Another Person Inside
by CreativelySpecial
Summary: Gentlemanly Edward has a rude, sarcastic side to him that's just dying to get out. Bella Swan, expert of all rude and sarcastic things, wants to help him. Rated M for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! So, I'm not a big fan of **_**Twilight **_**in general…honestly, vampires that don't drink people blood? I do, however, find the characters amusing. Thus, I've created a fun, adult-version of the **_**Twilight **_**saga. In this version, none of the vampires have special powers…unless you count Emmett's awesome super strength. **

**Please do not read this is if swearing offends you.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter One: First Sight**

**EPOV**

The first time I saw Bella Swan, I wanted her dead.

I had been peacefully walking along the rode when out pops a werewolf. They said that, since we were new in town (again), they wanted us to review the treaty with them.

Of course, to solve any problems for my family, I said yes. I followed the wolf back to his house, which was about fifteen miles away, determined to get this over as quickly as possible. I didn't bother questioning why he was allowing me on his land at this time, because I honestly didn't care. I just wanted to go home.

His house was…ugly. It looked like a cabin you would stay in if you lived in the woods…actually, come to think of it, he _did _live in the woods. There were little plants that spruced the windowsills, at least.

"My name's Sam," he said gruffly as he opened the door. He didn't even bother to keep it locked.

"Edward," I muttered, overcome by the overwhelming stench that greeted me when I stepped through the doorway. _Ugh…dog scent._

There was a girl in the kitchen that was baking something; they appeared to be muffins. She didn't turn around until Sam put his arm around her, hugging her to him.

He gestured to the small Indian girl that had deep scars running down her face. "This is my fiancé, Emily."

"Hello. Nice to meet you." Manners were a thing that make automatically to me. Emmett made fun of me for being a gentleman constantly.

"Hi," she said timidly. Of course, the dogs would have convinced her that vampires went around doing things of unspeakable evil for twenty four hours a day. While this was true for an unfortunate amount of our kind, my family and I were peaceful. I sort of lowered down, trying to make myself look less intimidating. Judging by her wide, frightened eyes, it wasn't working.

I cleared my throat unnecessarily. "So, what do I need to do?"

He shrugged, letting go of his fiancé. "Not much. It's not like we have any paperwork for you to sign or anything. I'm just going to remind you of the treaty's rules."

I raised an eyebrow, signaling that he should continue.

"Come on, let's sit down, shall we?"

I sighed in annoyance. Why was it taking him so damned long?

We sat down across from each other at his coffee table. I watched him slowly demolish a piece of fruit with his teeth, taking his sweet time, and still not telling me what was going on.

"Well, are you going to tell me or not?" I asked him, irked. 

"Fine, fine. Okay: don't come on our land. Don't kill anyone that you've been drinking from—and if you do, hide the body. Thoroughly. And lastly, don't tell any of our people that you're vampires."

"Why would I do any of that, anyway? And why am I allowed on your land now?"

He smiled secretively. "Okay. The real reason I brought you're here is because I want you to meet someone."

Oh. I wasn't expecting that one.

"C'mon," he beckoned me, leading me to the garage. Emily giggled from the kitchen, giving me thumbs up. I smirked, waving at her before entering the garage.

Nothing could have prepared me for the person I was about to meet.

She was the most gorgeous person I had ever seen; Rosalie could never compete with her. She had long, flowing dark hair, skin quite literally whiter than snow, and black eyes with a devious glint in them. Her perfectly toned, petite body stretched in a way that made very un-gentlemanly thoughts come into my brain. She stood before me, smirking, outstretching her small hand towards me.

"I'm Bella."

Before I could respond, another dog popped out from behind the car he was working on. "Who the hell is this?"

"His name's Edward Cullen," she responded easily, without questioning me.

"H—how did you know my name?" Oh, my God. My brain filter was obviously not functioning correctly. I sounded like I was afraid of her.

Okay, let's be honest: her sexiness intimidated me.

Her brows furrowed. "Uh, I _heard _you from in there. Vampire hearing, you know?"

I am such an idiot. "Yeah. I know."

"Duh, you fucking idiot," the dog snapped before picking up a wrench and disappearing under the car.

"Why are you such a jerk, Jacob?" she asked him. Ah, so this filthy puppy had a name.

"It reeks in here," I blurted out, stupidly thinking that I would be able to start a conversation.

"Kiss. My. Ass." Was all Jacob said. Bella made a strange noise, struggling not to let a chuckle out.

"So, _Edward_, what the hell do you want?" she asked. Wow—no need to be rude, or anything.

I realized I had actually said that out loud. If I were human, I probably would have died, because my cheeks would have soaked up all the blood in my body. I think that was the first time I had ever been grateful that I _wasn't_ human.

"She doesn't mean that in a rude way," Jacob piped in. "She swears all day long. I'm kind of surprised that she managed to say 'hello' without incorporating a swear word into it."

"Oh, shut the fuck up. You swear just as much as I do."

He snorted, reappearing from under the car. He had grease all over his face, making it look even uglier than before. He snorted unattractively. "_No one_ swears as much as you do, leech."

She shot him a dirty look. "I would kill you if it weren't for the face that you entertain me with your stupid banter."

"Mmm." I made a strange noise in an effort to contribute to the conversation. What an epic failure.

"Have you got something in your throat?" she asked, sitting back down. She picking up a very, very sharp carving knife and started making something out of a piece of wood that she pulled out of nowhere.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked, bewildered.

"Damn. You sure have a lot of questions."

"Well, you sure don't do a very thorough job of answering them."

She looked at me. "You are _disturbingly _close to my definition of a bitch. If you were a girl, I would have classified you as one the minute you walked in the door."

I scoffed. I didn't even know how to respond to that. I settled for, "Well, it's a good thing I'm a man, then."

She raised her eyebrow. "Not necessarily. Only time will tell."

I shook my head. I realized that there was nothing left for me to do here. "Well, I guess I'd better leave, then."

She shrugged, going back to her carving.

I stood there, waiting for someone to say something, until Jacob finally yelled, "Well, leave, then! Get out!"

I growled under my breath, stalking out the door and back into the kitchen. Emily was waiting there with an amused expression on her face. She was still too shy to say anything, but the look said it all: _ha, someone else has to deal with the jerks in the garage now!_

I hated to break it to her, but I had no intention of seeing either one of them ever again. I walked back into the dining room to find Sam attacking a giant muffin.

"Muffin?" he asked through his food. I grimaced and shook my head. What idiot doesn't know that vampires can't eat human food?"

I sat down, folding my hands together and waiting for Sam to finish eating, so I could avoid having any food flung at me. That would simply not be pleasant.

When he _finally_ finished, almost ten minutes later, he looked at me.

"What are you still doing here?"

I sighed. "Why did you send me into meet them?"

He shrugged. "No reason in particular. What did you think of them?"

I gave him a look that clearly read, _what do you _think _I thought of them?_

"Yeah, Bella's a bit…hard to be around, at first. But if you keep bothering her, she actually turns to be pretty cool. I don't expect you to be around, though."

"Somehow I doubt that," I muttered.

He shrugged again. "Look, you don't have to get to know her. I just thought I'd let you know she's here."

I nodded. "So what's the real reason you introduced me to her?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's just in case anything happens, okay? If anything ever happens to the town…. I just think it would be easier if we all stuck together. And Bella's, like, a trained assassin, or something. She doesn't really talk about it, but she'd be good to have on our side."

Well, that could also be a very, very _bad _thing, Sam. "Where does she live?"

"I don't know. She doesn't tell us much about herself. If you do ever see her again, why don't you ask her?"

"Okay. Well, I don't think I will be seeing her again…I need to be getting home. Have we covered everything that we need to?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we have. The pack will be getting home soon, anyway. Thanks for stopping by."

I nodded, and made my way out to the door.

"Goodbye, Emily. It was nice to meet you."

She nodded, looking down instead of up at me. Figuring that was the only response I was going to get from her, I made my way home, deciding not to bother telling my family about this excursion. It would only get them worried for no reason.

As I walked past the garage, I could hear Bella and Jacob arguing with each other.

_'No, I want to do it!'_

_ 'Let me!'_

_ 'No way in hell, dog.'_

I didn't know what they were arguing about, and I didn't really want to. I trudged the rest of the way home, deciding that I wanted to stay as far away from Bella Swan as possible. She annoyed the hell out of me, made me feel stupid, and flustered me.

She was dead to me.

**AN: I know that this isn't like the Edward we all know and love yet. He's going to develop into the one that we're more familiar with, but he'll have a dark side to him. Cyber hugs to anyone who's awesome enough to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This Bella is as OOC as you can get. She's really bitchy, but that's just how her character is. She kind of reminds me of Damon Salvatore, my FAVORITE vampire, from the **_**Vampire Diaries**_**. Enjoy!**

**PS: Who can name what show I stole the town meeting idea from? (Disclaimer: I don't own that show.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. It belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

**Chapter Two: Forks, Washington is the Worst Place in the World**

**BPOV**

I couldn't decide whether I liked Edward Cullen or not. I could see that he obviously had rude, sarcastic side to him, but his innocence was preventing it from coming out.

I hate innocence.

I added the final details to the little golden retriever I had just carved, and tossed it over to Jacob. "I think I found your long lost brother!"

He growled at me, because apparently long-lost brothers were a touchy subject among werewolves. Here was what I knew: Embry didn't know if the woman who raised him was his real mother or not. Sam's mother, who's kind of a slut, may or may not be his mother. She says she can't remember. And that, in my opinion, either means that she was stoned while she was in labor (highly unlikely), or she just didn't want to raise the kid.

I pouted as he smashed the carving to pieces. "Hey, that was a good one!"

Let's just say that's not the first dog I've carved for Jacob. In fact, I think he secretly has a collection of them that he's going to sell on eBay or something.

I stood up, sent one more glare at him, and ran out to the kitchen, which, of course, startled Emily. She let out a little squeal before dropping her very hot muffins onto the ground. Damn it. I hear a sizzle.

"Sorry, Emily," I said dully, only to use super speed again to pick the muffins up before they left a mark on the floor. Sure enough, there were little brown singes around the tiles of the floors, directly where each muffin had been positioned. I guess they each wanted to leave their mark.

I placed the tin on the cooling rack, the heat not even affecting my hands because of their deadly (literally) coldness. She smiled sheepishly as Sam walked in the room, staring at the brown marks.

"Um…. we can tell people it's for decoration." That's all he said, and then he walked away.

I shrugged. "He's right. Just tell people you're opening a professional giant-muffin making business that isn't open to the public, because you only offer your services to high-end restaurants outside of the country."

She stared at me. "That's a terrible idea, Bella."

I scowled at her before exiting the building, figuring I'd been there long enough for one day. Besides, I needed to hunt.

I found a nice, juicy fat guy down in Olympia. I just took enough to last me for about a week, then tossed him in an alley, leaving him to wake up alone about three hours later. On my way home, though, I saw the chief of police, Charlie Swan, walking by. I'd always liked that guy. I'm not sure if it's because we shared the same last name or because he didn't leer at me creepily like most old men did.

"Hey, Charlie," I greeted him. I kept tabs on all the major people that would be able to expose me, keeping them on first name basis. It made me look less suspicious.

"Hi, Bella. Are you coming to the town meeting tonight?"

I smirked. The town meetings were the only good thing about this town. "Don't I always?"

He mumbled something that was beyond depicting and waved as he walked away. He is so awkward.

I shook my head, walking back to the forest. Okay, here's the thing: I don't exactly live in a house. There's really no need to, as a vampire: anything you need to hunt for is outside anyway; your clothes always smell good because of your unnatural vampire scent; and you don't need a shower unless you've been mud wrestling.

And why the hell would a vampire mud wrestle?

Therefore, I didn't have a home. I wasn't a nomad, either, though. I lived in this forest, or in Italy. Those were my only two permanent homes.

I had been in the Volturi for about two hundred years. I probably shouldn't tell you this, because you'll make fun of me, but I'm three hundred and sixty six years old. In my defense, that's not _that_ old for a vampire.

Anyway, the Volturi are an ancient group of vampires that think they rule the world. Aro, the leader, thinks he's my father. It gets on my nerves, because I never knew who my biological human father was; so you can imagine how much is pisses me off to find out that there's a fraud who's not even human trying to pass as him.

I ran to the library, figuring books would help ease my constant boredom. There's never anything to do in this hellhole of a town. Perfect for someone like Edward.

On the way, I ran into one of my least favorite humans of all time: Mike Newton. Or, as I call him, 'Fig Newton Bar'. He had short, golden blonde hair with sky blue eyes. He was around average height—probably five ten, give or take; and he wasn't fat. I _guess_ you couldn't call him _ugly_.

I'm still going to.

"Hi, Bella."

I stifled a groan. "What, Mike?"

He smiled, despite my rudeness. "Where are you off to?"

"None of your business."

He winked. Ewe. "I think I'll join you."

I stopped in the middle of my long, exasperated steps. "I didn't ask you to, did I?"

He shrugged. "Well, no. I would think you would know that."

I would slap him if it wouldn't shatter his little baby face to pieces. "It's rude to invite yourself."

"Yeah, but you're rude, too. Rude people like rude people. Am I right?" He let out a most unattractive, stupid sounding laugh.

"No."

I was hoping to wound his feelings, but I digress. For the Fig Newton Bar followed me all the way to the library, as if he were immune to my menacing glares. His heart wasn't beating any faster than normal, and his eyes had a happy twinkle in them, like he just _knew_ that he was winning his way to my heart.

Damn. He really _is _stupid.

When I reached the romance section, he asked me, "Have you read any of Sarah Dessen's books?"

Well, he obviously wasn't into the classics. "Who the hell is Sarah Dessen?"

He stuttered unintelligently. "She writes…like…stupid, romantic novels for teenage girls. I've only heard of her because of my sisters. It's not like I've read them, or anything…that would be dumb."

No, Mike… you trying to tell a lie would be dumb. "First, you don't have any sisters, you moron. Second, are you calling me a stupid teenage girl?"

"Yes. No."

I rolled my eyes. "Wow, what a charmer! Seriously, Newton: What the hell do you want? You'd think you would've told me why you're bothering me in the forty five minutes we spent bonding, on our way to the library like BFF's."

He looked hurt. Fucking _finally_. "I just wanted to hang out with you, Bella. I think you're really cool. And I also think that you're a sweet, scared person under that tough exterior that you wear. I want to break through it so that I can see the real you. And _that_, my dear, is why I'm here."

What. The. Fuck.

"Wow." I walked away, having nothing more to contribute to the conversation. Mike the Fig Newton Bar is insane, there are new vampires in town, and Sam thinks that there's a war ahead of us.

I officially hate Forks, Washington.

Five hours, eleven books, another fat person from Port Angeles and it was time for the only redeeming quality Forks had to offer: the town meetings.

The town meetings were run by Jessica Stanley's father, who was a fat, ugly, mean man with absolutely no personality. His cheeks looked like they were running ten miles an hour while he was trying to talk in his monotone voice, which no one listened to until he announced the next topic that we, as a people, were supposed to discuss.

I always got there early, because that way I could find a spot in the direct middle, where my sarcastic comments regarding 'serious problems about our community' could be heard by everybody.

It was to my great dismay to see that none other than Edward Cullen and family walked through the door, obviously trying to gain the town's trust. They'll have everyone's trust but mine by the end of the night, most likely. We vampires have the mysterious appeal that humans like. Don't ask me why; I just use it to my advantage.

They walked up to Charlie, who always sat in the front row, and shook his hand, one by one, exchanging pleasantries.

I despise pleasantries.

Edward's eyes met mine, and my mouth twitched in amusement as he looked, panicked, back in forth between his family and myself. I raised my eyebrows, as if to mockingly say, _what's wrong? Don't you want the rude, bitchy girl to meet your innocent little family?_

I was looking for some kind of reaction, such as, 'yes, I'd love for you to rub off your charming personality', or, 'stay the hell away from them or I'll rip your head off'.

Since he was the polite man that he was, though, he trudged over, family in tow, and introduced me to them.

Eh, what the hell? I guess I don't have to be _rude…._ just not _polite._ "Hello. Nice to meet you." Damn. That sounded too pleasant. And pleasant meant conversation, which lead to exchanging addresses and such (which would be kind of hard to explain), which then leads to them asking you to go to social gatherings of sorts.

As you can see, being pleasant is a bad, bad thing.

I got all warm and fuzzy responses, except for a blonde that looked like a model that was missing from a runway. I liked her. She was cold, and somewhat reminded me of myself. Maybe she'll rub off on the rest of them and make them more bearable to be around.

I swear to God, though, I'd rather gauge my eyeballs out with eyelash curlers than listen to Alice's squeaky little voice again. I shudder just thinking about hearing it for the first time.

They sat down in the back, and I sighed in relief when they were gone. The meeting began not long after that, and the first topic was the Cullen's move to town.

The Fig Newtons thought that they were welcome as long as they didn't go broke and start asking for money from people. Carlisle assured them that this wouldn't be an issue.

Lauren…I don't know what her last name is…declared that they were all really hot. And then all the other teenage girls piped up to agree with her.

Okay, I had to admit it: Edward was probably the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen. His hair was a really dark auburn and in a casual disarray. His black eyes were kind of sad and ancient looking—probably the opposite of mine. It also didn't hurt him that he was tall, around 6'2, and lean with just enough muscle to not look skinny but to also not look bulky.

The rest of the town welcomed him eagerly, and we were onto our next subject: politics. I hated politics, because politics and economy, our final subject, were the two most boring things you could talk about. I didn't contribute much because of this, so time dragged by sluggishly.

Ugh. I hate this town. The only thing fun about it was the fact that the neighbors bitched at each other _constantly _and all hated one another. It was like the _Elite Forks Club_. Everyone was in it, but no one wanted to be.

When the meeting was finally adjourned, I went back to the forest, ignoring the owl that had the nerve to stare me down, and fell asleep. That is, until all the birds in the sky decided to migrate all at once, like they were fucking hypnotized or something.

As I groaned, covered my ears and rolled over, thoroughly irritated, there was only one thing running through my brain: _Yep. I definitely hate Forks, Washinton_.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Ecxe and TWIHARDalltheway are both awesome-tastic because they took the time to review. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Three: I Will Make Edward Cullen Rude**

By the time all the birds finished migrating, it was past seven in the morning. Curse my vampire hearing!

Tired and grumpy (not a good combination for the undead), I trudged back over to Sam's house. I'm not even sure why I keep showing up—out of habit, I suppose. It gave me _something _to do.

As I walked through the door, Emily shrieked and dropped another tray of giant muffins. And cue the sizzling. Never a good sign.

"I didn't even use super speed this time," I muttered, already irritable. So _that's _how today's going to be, is it?

"Well, you could try knocking for once," she complained, holding her muffins close to her chest like they were her only child.

"Jesus. They're only muffins. Besides, we've talked about this: decoration, remember?"

She glared at me as she set them down on the counter. I waved at Sam, who was sitting at the dining room table and peeling an orange.

Once I was in the garage, I stalked over to my chair and immediately started ranting to Jacob.

"Last night, the Cullens showed up at the town meeting. And then, the birds started migrating like they were possessed. And Emily needs a hearing aid or something, because she dropped her muffins _again_. I fucking hate this day."

"Do I _look_ like a therapist to you?"

"Uh…. no. Not really. You're too sweaty and gross."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Shut up."

I picked up another piece of wood, and began carving away at a labradoodle.

I sighed in annoyance as I heard Edward Cullen's voice: "Hello, Emily."

Why was he so damned polite?

She giggled, of course, because she wasn't used to people besides Sam being nice to her. And, the fact that he was insanely hot.

Jacob growled. "Why is _he_ here?"

"How the hell should I know? I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

We waited five more minutes, but all he did was make niceties with Sam. We moved over to the two chairs that were conveniently placed by the door to the garage in an attempt to hear them more clearly, even though it didn't make much of a difference. My knee started bouncing in impatience, and I finally snapped, "Well, how long can it take him to tell us why he's here?"

He looked annoyed, too. "Your patience astounds me, Bella."

I wrinkled my nose. "Did you just call me, 'Bella'?" It was always, 'bloodsucker', 'leech', or 'Swan'. Never just, 'Bella'.

He sighed. "It was an accident, you stupid bloodsucker. Now shut up so we can actually hear what's going on."

Why did I even come over here? The conversation went on for another ten minutes…and then we heard him approaching.

"Get back into position," I hissed, running for my chair. When the garage door opened, it was if nothing ever happened: I was sitting in my chair in the middle of the garage, nonchalantly carving a labradoodle, and Jacob was underneath his car, grease spewing away.

"Edward," I muttered, staring intently at my artwork. "Funny to see you here. I could have sworn that I remembered hearing you say that you're never coming back here again, just yesterday."

"Well, here I am."

Hmm. He didn't stutter—that could be a good thing. "Are you actually capable of speaking now?"

He scowled. "I'm not mentally or physically incompetent. Are you going to be rude?"

"Yes."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Probably because she always is," Jacob yelled from underneath his car.

I rolled my eyes. "Jacob doesn't do well with sarcasm."

"Yes, I can see that."

He stood there for a while, looking very awkward. The whole time, he looked around the room like it was the most fascinating thing in the world when, in reality, it was very bland and boring.

Finally, I asked, "Do you need something?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. But I do have to ask you something: have you always been so bitter?"

Random. "Um, yeah, I guess. Why?"

"Well, usually when people are bitter, they have a reason for it. What's yours?"

"Um…I'm a bitch?" How the hell was I supposed to respond to that? I thought I had made it blatantly obvious that I was a rude, obnoxious person. My motives were my business and no one else's.

He sighed. "That's not a reason, Bella. And you're not a…. you know. What you said."

"Actually, I pretty much am. And do you have issues with swearing?"

"No, I don't. I just don't use it excessively like you do. I use it when I mean it, our when I'm trying to make a point."

I shrugged. He had a point—it was often more effective if you didn't use it on a regular basis. Common sense could tell you that much. However, swearing was part of how I was raised, and it comforted me in a sick, disturbing way.

"To each their own."

He remained standing, still looking awkward as hell, like he'd rather jump off a bridge than be here.

"May I sit down?" he finally asked.

I said, "Sure," at the same time Jacob said, "No!".

I gestured that he should ignore the dog, and he followed my hand that was sitting at the chair—coincidentally the same chair that I had been sitting in just minutes ago, while we were spying on him.

"So, do you come here often?"

I scowled, ignoring his question. "What do you want, Edward?"

"I was merely coming to exchange greetings so that our families could be civil towards each other. However, if I'm making you uncomfortable, I can leave."

I shrugged. "You politeness always makes me uncomfortable. And I don't have a family, so you don't have anything to worry about besides the dogs. I don't have a reason to pick a fight with you, do I?"

"No."

We sat in silence, _again_, until Jacob added his two cents in.

"Look, I don't see why you had to move to Forks, of all places."

Edward looked almost insulted, although it was, in all fairness, a decent question. "Why _wouldn't _we move to Forks? It's everything a vampire needs and more—nice secluded areas for hunting, little to no sunlight to minimize chances of dying, and stupid townspeople that can't tell a vampire from a werewolf."

"Yeah, well, we were all here first."

"Jacob, don't be such a whiner," I piped in. "You're the one that's always telling me to learn to share. Well, now's our chance."

In addition to my impatience and selfishness, my third large fault would be my inability to share. I'm a very possessive person. People say it makes me hard to get along with.

"But I don't _want _to share!"

I threw the labradoodle, now complete with a collar that had Jacob's name on it, at him. "Why don't you go on a date with Leah, or something? Actually get out of this damned house. I can't even remember the last time I've seen you leave, for God's sakes!"

He took the figurine in his massive wolf palm. "Don't smash it. That one's actually good. You could make some money off of it."

He scoffed. "Yeah, I'm going to sell people little wooden dogs that have my name on them. No, thanks."

"May I see it?" Edward asked quietly. I stared at him suspiciously, but then figured he was too nice to destroy it.

I snatched it back up from Jacob and gently pressed it into Edward's palm. He weighed it thoughtfully, studying all the details.

"This is very good," he finally noted.

"Uh, thanks." I wasn't used to receiving compliments.

"You pay nice attention to detail."

"I try…"

"I'm impressed."

"Edward! Your compliments are freaking me out!"

He raised his eyebrow. "Sorry. Where I'm from, compliments are a good thing."

I sat back down, dismissing everything he was saying in fear that it might be another compliment.

"Well, I should go." Before I even had a chance to say goodbye, he turned around and walked away. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Jacob, who continued to irritate the hell out of me.

It never even occurred to me that Edward still had my little figurine in his palm when he walked away.

**AN: Good? Bad? Reviews are appreciated, people!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks to everyone who was awesome enough to review! For those of you who haven't guessed it yet, the town meeting idea was from **_**Gilmore Girls**_**. Enjoy!**

** Chapter Four**

**EPOV**

I held Bella's figurine in my palm as I sat on a random rock, not in the mood to go home. It was a stupid little piece of artwork, meant to taunt Jacob, but I appreciated all of the details that she put into it. I probably should've given it back to her; but for some reason, I felt an odd attachment to the little object.

Strange.

Since I had no clue as to what I wanted to do for the rest of the day, I decided to meander around town. Maybe I would hunt, if I saw a juicy human.

I was fairly proud of myself; I actually managed to talk to her today. I don't think I stuttered at all, which was quite a feat, given my last visit. Although, I must admit, half way through the conversation I felt like dropping down to the ground and wheezing like an old man when I couldn't think of something to say. These sarcastic comebacks didn't come naturally to me like they did to her.

I had made it to the very edge of Forks by this point, thinking of what I would say to Sam next. Today, he hadn't been so willing to let me onto his property. He didn't want me anywhere near his land or his people, so I had to make up an excuse and tell him that I needed to talk to Bella about something very important and confidential.

To be honest, I'm not even sure why I went back. Neither one of those two in the garage were exactly my favorite people in the world. For some reason, I felt…. normal when I was around them. With my family, I always had to make sure that what I was saying was polite and respectful, even to Rosalie. It got stressful. With Bella and Jacob, practically nothing any of us said was polite, so I didn't have to be so careful.

I soon reached Port Angeles, where I, unfortunately, ran into Lauren. I don't know what Lauren's last name is, because she won't tell anyone. On the school directory, it simply says, _Lauren C._

"Hey, Edward," she all but shouted in my ear in a tone that was probably supposed to be seductive.

_Gag._

"Hello, Lauren," I responded politely. Ugh. She was standing about half a foot away from me, but I could smell and see all of the product oozing from her hair. _Disgusting…._

"Where are you going?" she asked me, stepping closer to me.

I stepped back subtly. "I don't know yet. Where are you going?"

She tried to whisper. "Wherever you are." Her breath smelled like rancid chicken and her shirt was pulled up at an inappropriate angle, exposing her…. not slender stomach.

"Right." I walked away, but, because I have extremely bad luck, she followed me. We walked for about two and a half miles, her chattering away the whole time. I shot her annoyed looks, which she obviously ignored. I only made little noises in response when conversation absolutely demanded it.

"Is there something wrong, Ed?"

Oh, God, no. "It's Edward, actually. And no." I struggled to look for an escape. "Oh, look! It's Jessica!"

Of course, I had no idea if the poor, curly haired girl standing on the other side of the street was Jessica or not. The second Lauren's head whipped around, I ran as fast as I could—so fast that the humans couldn't even see me as I went past them—away from her.

"Ed? Eddie? Edward, where are you?" she screeched. She continued to do this, but I was free of her horrible, nasally voice as soon as I was out of hearing distance.

"So much for not going home," I sighed. I trudged myself back home, not exactly happy about having to see my family. I loved them all with my whole dead heart, of course, but they could be a little…hard to be around.

"Hello, Esme," I greeted her as I walked up the long, winding driveway that let to our mansion of a house.

"Edward! Where have you been?"

I don't know why, but I impulsively felt the need to lie to her. "I was in Port Angeles. I ran into Lauren, a girl from school."

She looked at me knowingly. "I'm sorry, son. That must have been annoying."

I shrugged.

"Your father wants to see you in his office."

I nodded and walked inside the house, walking up the three flights of stairs that lead to his office.

I knocked, wanting to get this over with and to get some sleep. I hadn't been able to last night, because all of these birds started migrating out of nowhere. Curse my vampire hearing!

"Come in."

I opened the door and walked in, to find Carlisle sitting at his desk, reading a leather bound book."

"Hello, Carlisle. Esme said you wanted to see me?"

He chuckled. "Ah, that's my Edward: always straight to the point. Please, sit down."

I tried not to huff as I wasted more of my precious sleeping time by sitting down across from him. At least the chair was comfortable.

"So, Bella Swan," he began. Hmm. What could Bella have to do with anything that Carlisle would be concerned about?

"What about her?" Wow, I was sounding _rude _today.

He raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "Are you having a bad day, son?"

I sighed, and then nodded my head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head. "What about Bella, Carlisle?"

"You've met her, correct?"

"Yes."

"And does she pose a threat to our family?"

My eyebrows crinkled. "No. Why would she?"

He looked relieved. "Oh, no reason. That's all, I suppose."

Before I could get up and leave the room, Alice charged in, shouting, "WHERE ARE MY STILETTOS?"

I shook my head again, this time in annoyance, and covered my sensitive years while running from the room. Soon the whole family was in chaos because Alice couldn't find her precious high heels and was interrupting everyone's afternoon.

I walked up to my bedroom, which was on the top floor, and flopped down on my bed. Well, sleep was obviously out of the question. I growled under my breath, rolled over onto my side, and stared out the window for most of the afternoon.

I found my mind drifting back to the morning in the garage, and analyzing everything everyone had said. A thought suddenly struck my brain: was Bella rubbing off on me? Was _she _the reason why I was so rude today?

I came to the decision that, no matter how little or much she had already influenced me, I was _not _going to see Bella Swan anymore. Ever.

**AN: Gasp! Is Bella starting to rub off on Edward? And will he **_**really **_**stay away from her no matter what? Reviews are appreciated! **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Fireworks time! Enjoy!**

** Chapter Five**

**EPOV**

_I will not see Bella today. I will not see Bella today. I will not see Bella today._

What the hell is _wrong_ with me? Why would I feel the need to see Bella today? I barely even _knew_ her, for God's sakes.

I had been particularly moody all morning long, for reasons unknown. I think it was probably because I had spent the entire night up, not sleeping at all, struggling to come up with a conclusion for my strange behavior.

They all lead back to Bella.

Walking down the stairs, leaving my room for the first time all day, I ran into Carlisle.

"Are you alright, son?" he asked me, looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Oh, great. Now I sound nervous; because that's _so _much better than being a jerk.

"Your dark circles under your eyes. You need to hunt, Edward. And go soon."

What was the point in arguing? "Okay."

I slugged down the remaining stairs to find Jasper sitting on the couch, thoughtfully watching the television.

"Hello, Edward," he greeted me. So far, he's my favorite family member for today because he's the most quiet. Now I sound like someone that's recovering from a hangover. It is _not _my day.

"Jasper," I muttered.

"Who are you think about?" he asked me, studying me intently. Ah, Jasper. He's always been the observant one of the family.

"No one."

"Liar."

I got up, huffed, and stormed into the kitchen. I realized this was pointless, because I can't eat anything, given the fact that I'm a damned vampire.

"No, no, no," I yelled at my legs, but they carried me out the door anyway.

"Edward!" Esme shouted, looking up from the garden she was planting. "Where are you off to, dear?"

"I'm not going anywhere," I growled, holding onto the tree for my dear, immortal life. Of course, since I had stupid superhuman strength, my arms simply knocked the tree to the ground when I held on for too long.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" I cursed, trying to hold onto anything to prevent me from going anywhere.

"Oh, my," Esme gasped, running inside.

"DAMN IT!" Now I had not only lost control of my own legs, but I'd scared away my own mother, too. Great.

I was at the wolf's house in less than fifteen minutes, because my long legs just wouldn't quit running.

I stopped cold outside the house, lurching over at my sudden halt. Something didn't feel right. The ugly cabin-house-combination looked the same; something was…off.

I slowly made my way to the front door, not exactly overly eager to speak to Sam and Emily again. Sam beat me to the door, scowling at me through the threshold.

"Not you again."

"I'm not overly pleased to see you, myself," I found myself snapping. Wow, I really must need to hunt. Then again, when is Carlisle _ever_ wrong?

"Then why are you here, at my house, if you don't want to see me, you moron?"

"I'm here to see Bella. We didn't quite finish our conversation yesterday, and it's very important that we get it done today."

He smiled smugly. "Too bad she's not here, then."

My legs were ready to go again.

"Wherever it is that she lives."

"Well, where does she live?" I asked impatiently.

"How the hell should I know?"

"I don't know. Look, just forget it. If she comes back, tell her that I need to speak with her," I grumbled, turning to leave. I stalked down the stairs, my legs back in full swing.

The forest was dark and murky, even more so than usual, as I trudged through it, no longer in a hurry to get anywhere. I didn't want to go home and face the aftermath of my…psycho breakdown…but what else could I do?

I smiled, teeth gleaming, realizing that Carlisle had told me to hunt; I could use that against him, should he ask where I've been.

I was turning not only rude, but devious, too. I had been scheming things all day without even thinking about it…if that made sense, which it didn't.

My legs were shaky and not wanting to go in the direction I was taking them. Too bad, legs, I thought to myself. You're not going to win this time.

I found a delicious girl right outside of Seattle. She had long, blonde hair and piercing green eyes. My favorite part, the blood, tasted sweet—with a spicy side.

Well fed and ready to face the wrath of Esme, I threw the girl's small corpse in a trash bin and left her there to rot. Hopefully whoever took out the trash skipped over her decayed body when they dumped the thing.

I didn't feel even a hint of remorse like I usually did. In fact I found myself cheerfully whistling as I made my way back to the house. _What the hell_? I _never _whistle, and I'm _never _cheerful.

Yep, there is definitely something wrong with me.

The road seemed shorter than usual, and it took me practically no time at all to be standing at the front porch, waiting for my inevitable doom.

Thankfully, Esme didn't look angry when I arrived inside; just concerned.

Alice popped up from the couch to give me hug. "Oh, Edward! You're in such inner turmoil!" What?

"What are you talking about, Alice?"

"You were obviously battling your inner demons when you tore down those trees. You won!"

I rolled my eyes at their wide, innocent ones. "I hate to break it to you, but I wasn't having an 'angels vs. demons' moment, Alice. I just needed to hunt and went crazy from lack of blood."

What a lie. I could go at least two months without blood before turning into whatever _that _was, earlier. No, that took Bella Swan.

Alice was skeptical while Esme automatically believed her favorite son. That's right: I know it's true. She's like Emmett if he didn't make a sexual innuendo out of every word that came out of someone's mouth and didn't break everything in sight, and she'd like Jasper if he wasn't always preparing for war, even if was over something as simple as who saw the brunette with the juicy jugular first.

I apologized for scaring Esme, which she easily gave into and hugged me.

As I walked up the stairs, I noted that Alice was surreptitiously following me. She's not quite sneaky enough for me, thank you very much. As I walked into my room, leaving the door open to make her uncomfortable, she stood outside, staring at me, thinking that I still hadn't noticed her yet.

She's far too gullible for her own good.

"Did you need something, Alice?" I called out to her casually, my back still facing her.

"You knew I was there?" she yelled, sounding insulted.

"The whole time."

She stomped into the room, her little feet hardly making any noise against my carpet, despite her best efforts.

"Did you need something?" I repeated, somewhat amused, somewhat annoyed.

She huffed in her little pixie voice. "What's wrong with you, Edward?"

I scoffed. "Excuse me?"

"You know what I've been talking about. You've been so…. strange and out of character for the last two days. I want to know why."

I tuned around, alarmed that she had caught on so fast. Alice wasn't exactly what I would call observant.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Alice."

"Yes, you do. Stop lying!"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in a lame effort to calm myself down. "Look, I'm sorry if I've been acting strange, alright? I've just been a little bit irritable lately. I bet I'll be back to normal by tomorrow. You just wait and see."

"Edward, you're lying. I just want to know why."

"What makes you think I'm lying in the first place?"

She looked at me with an expression that said, _I'm not an idiot, and neither are you._ "I know for a fact that you only need to go hunting every few months, Edward. Months. And you just went a couple of weeks ago. So the hunting alibi isn't working on me."

"It's not an alibi! Maybe I'm just not as perfect as everyone seems to think I am!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Trust me: you don't need to worry about me thinking that you're perfect."

If she weren't a girl (and my sister, for that matter), I would've punched her by now.

"Good, then. Are we all done here?"

She glared at me, looking very upset. "I wish you would just trust me, Edward."

She stomped out of my room and down to hers. I heard the door slam and I walked down, assuming it was safe with a door between us. I yelled on my way down the next flight of stairs, "I do trust you, Alice."

I didn't get a response; I wasn't expecting one. I shook my head as I sat down on the couch, wondering how much more exasperation I could take. Carlisle walked in, handing me a list.

"Edward, could you please go grocery shopping? It would be very helpful to your mother and me."

I mumbled, "Sure. I'll be back in an hour," and launched myself out the door, making my sluggish way to the grocery store. I wanted to pass out from exhaustion. I sat down for a little while, resting my head on my knees. Then, the last person I wanted to see was just…here.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing here?" she asked. I looked up at Bella, mildly surprised to see her, but not surprised at all to see that my legs decided that they had nowhere to go.

And, just like that, I had broken my latest promise that I made less than twenty four hours ago to stay the hell away from Bella Swan.

Damn it.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hi, people! What did you do for Fourth of July? I got stuck watching the terrible movie **_**Predator **_**(ugh, it's so BORING!) because it rained where I was. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Six**

**BPOV**

I found Edward sitting against _my _tree, on _my _property, staring at _my _piece of ground. Not cool.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I snapped, not in the mood to deal with his…general girly attitude.

He looked up at me from his fetal position, not even looking surprised to see me. "I was just resting for a minute." He sounds content. Why the hell does he sound content?

"Listen, oh smart one, I'll give you ten second—

"What's your favorite color?"

I shook my head. "You interrupted me. I was _saying,_ I'll—

"You didn't answer my question."

This isn't getting me anywhere. "Why the hell would you want to know my favorite color, you moron?"

"Please tell me." He sounded sleepy; not good.

"Fine. I'll answer your damned question if it means you'll get the hell off my property."

"I'm not going anywhere. I hate to break it to you, but you don't own the forest." Hey—is that sarcasm that I hear? Maybe all hope is not lost, after all!

"This is MY part of the forest. I thought I'd explained that to you already."

"No one _owns the forest_, Bella. Now answer the goddamned question!"

I shrugged. "Black. My favorite color is black. Is that okay with you?"

"No. No it is not. Liking black means that you're a dark person, which I know you're not. You just pretend to be."

That is the fucking STUPIDEST thing I have ever heard. "You obviously don't understand the concept of a rhetorical question."

"Yes, I do. It's when you're not supposed to answer the question someone asked."

"But you just _did_ answer the my question when you weren't supposed to! How hard is this to understand?"

"Um…very."

I shook my head, because I was just as tired as he was. "Look Edward, I'm going to have to ask you to go, now. I'm getting tired, so…"

"Yeah, well I'm not!" I groaned when I recognized what he was going through. When a vampire hasn't gotten enough sleep, they get a little…fucked up. He's moved onto phase two: loud and angry.

"Yes, you are, Edward."

"Am not!"

"Are to."

"Am not!"

"Are to."

"Am not!"

"YES YOU ARE, EDWARD! Now could you _please _stop yelling? Some of us actually _like _being able to hear, believe it or not."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Now shut the hell up."

"That's a mean thing to say."

"Well, I'm a mean person, so that works out, doesn't it?"

"You're not a mean person. You're just lonely. Why don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Because boys have cooties." I didn't have a better explanation then that.

"It's a good thing I'm a _man_, then."

Oh, God. "Are you, now?"

"I could be _your _man."

I tried not to laugh. "Are you…hitting on me?"

"Let's call it, 'courting', shall we?"

"Whatever." It means the same thing: want to fuck?

"So…why are you still here?"

"Because I'm your boyfriend!"

Hold on, now. "Um, no you're not. Sorry, Edward."

"Yes, I am! You are MINE!" Stop it, Edward. You're turning me on and you're barely conscious.

"So now I belong to you?"

"Mm hmm. Now, come here and sit down. You look cold." What the hell? Vampires cannot even _get _cold.

"Edward, that's a _horrible _way of trying to seduce someone. You sound like you're my grandmother!"

Nevertheless, I gracefully sat my ass down next to him. He attempted to put his arm around me, but he was too tired to lift it. I sighed before assisting him.

He made a strange baby noise and sat his head down on my shoulder, before moving onto the final stage: hyper.

"Want to make out?" he asked me out of the blue. I thought about it for a minute: In a way, it was kind of like sexual assault on my part, because there was no way in hell he would remember any of this tomorrow. On the other hand, he _did _ask me. And his lips looked awfully kissable…

"Yeah, okay," I finally conceded.

He yelled, "Yay," and yanked my head in his direction. He smashed his lips onto mine, pulling me roughly into his lap. I wrapped both my arms around his neck, moaning into his mouth as he shoved his tongue into mine.

This went on for, like, a whole hour. And then he fell asleep on me.

** EPOV**

I don't do so well when I get tired; I get deliberately obstinate and cranky. That's the only excuse I have for what happened.

**BPOV**

I heaved and managed to get myself out from underneath him. It wasn't easy; he was clinging onto me like I was his stuffed teddy bear or something.

"Bella," he muttered, rolling over. Oh, great. He talks in his sleep. Wonderful.

"Bella, why are you so mean all the time? And why do I like it?" I don't know, Edward. These are the questions of life.

"Sheep. Ponies. Hair dryers." He started mumbling out random words like there was no tomorrow (which is a ridiculous phrase for me to use, seeing as we're both immortal and have all eternity).

I growled and crawled over to my tree, glaring at him. My face softened up when I realized just how peaceful and adorable he looked, like a little boy. His mouth was slightly open and his arms were behind his head, comforting himself.

I found myself smiling against my will. I groaned and covered my face with my hands. _What's happening to me? _I don't smile. Ever. No exceptions.

I found myself humming _Claire de Lune _under my breath. It had always been one of my favorite songs, regardless of the fact that I usually hated classical music. I was more of the death metal type. Cannibal Corpse was my favorite band. **(AN: Do not feel obligated to look them up if you don't know who they are. Their lyrics are…something else.)**

Eventually, the sun began to rise. The main reason I lived in Forks was because, even though the sun rose and set, it was so mellow that it didn't affect me. If the light were much harsher, I would be a pile of ash.

Just as the sun rose, Edward did, too. "What…hmm…. where am I?"

"You're in the forest." Obviously. Edward obviously wasn't very bright when he first awoke.

"Bella?"

"Yes. Any more questions, while you're on a roll?"

He glared at me, sitting up against _my _tree. "What _happened_?"

Might as well be honest. "Well, I came home to find you sitting on my property, exhausted as hell. You started telling me that I was warm and mushy on the inside when I told you my favorite color is black. And then we made out for an hour, and you passed out."

He gasped. "We…kissed?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's what I just said, is it not?"

He had the nerve to look horrified. "I can't believe I lost my first kiss to her…" he muttered quietly, to himself.

My mouth opened wide. It's a damned good thing bugs are afraid of vampires. "Wait…you've never been…kissed?"

As soon as he realized he had disclosed that information to me, I was rolling around on the ground in hysterics. I couldn't stop laughing, and it didn't help that Edward just stood there, looking nervous and mortified.

"Wow, Edward. Drew Barrymore's got nothing on you! Wait…so that means…you're a virgin!"

I was back to hysterics again, and Edward was back to standing there hopelessly. Eventually, he left, stalking away from me. I laughed for most of the afternoon, now having a new plan.

I'm going to corrupt Edward Cullen.

** EPOV**

I rubbed my fingers against my lips, now tainted with…. Bella on them. They didn't feel any different, still as silky smooth as before. My tongue, however, had a faint taste of something foreign and sweet on it.

Bella. I had "Bella" taste in my mouth.

I scowled at the ground, kicking any rocks that were in my way. I was brooding, and angry, and not in a good mood.

I was starting to have a real aversion to going home, period. As I walked through the front door, Esme jumped up from the couch, looking worried.

"Edward, where have you _been_?" If she were human, she would've been in tears.

"Nothing!" I shouted. I realized this response didn't make any sense and sounded close to hysterical, but I couldn't come up with anything better.

I ran up the stairs, ignoring anyone that was trying to ask me something. I wasn't in the mood for questions.

I curled up on my bed, wanting to go back to sleep. Alice burst through the door, looking worried.

"Edward! What _happened_?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Alice!"

Having a first kiss was a big deal to me, and I couldn't even remember it. I was confused, upset, and still tired.

She left the room eventually, and I fell back asleep almost instantly.

Little did I know that Bella was plotting something evil and devious that would change my life forever. (Literally.)

**AN: Like it? Hate it? Reviews are always appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Enjoy!**

**Chapter Seven**

**BPOV**

I scowled at Mike Newton as he sat across from me, peachier than a peach. What started out as a normal day turned into a senior citizen filled, bizarre one full with fig Newton Bars, Edward Cullen, grocery shopping and mysterious packages.

I was walking to Port Angeles, planning on hunting, when I saw Charlie leaning against his cruiser, staring at me. He motioned with his hand that I was supposed to come over to him, which I did with some reluctance.

"Bella," he hissed. "I need to go arrest someone, but this letter—which is TOP CONFIDENTIAL—needs to get to the mayor before noon. It is of the upmost importance that it gets to him before then; and no one else can see it besides him. You're the only person that I can trust at the moment. _Can_ I trust you?"

_No. _"Yes."

"Good. Now, the mayor is getting pretty old, so he lives in the retirement home on the other side of town. Hurry, and thank you so much, Bella. I owe you one!"

He hopped in the cruiser and sped away after that, leaving me to stand there in bewilderment. _What the hell did I do to earn his trust? _I've never _done _anything for him! Maybe it's because I'm the only person that smiles at him—even if it is in a sinister, 'run, Charlie, before I eat you' sort of way.

I started muttering quotes from Shakespeare to myself, in a vain effort to keep myself entertained, until I reached the elderly home. And, of course, Mike Newton was there, dropping off a big package for the mayor.

Maybe it's the mayor's birthday.

"Hey, Bella!"

"No." I stalked past him into the room, ignoring the elevator and taking the stairs.

"Bella, wait!" he yelled, attempting to get the wheels on the thing up the stairs. He was wheezing unattractively and his spit was flying everywhere. Is that really what people consider attractive nowadays?

"You should have taken the elevator, you idiot," I called down to him, ignoring when he fell back down the stairs. I shook my head, walking down the long hallway.

I didn't find him in that hall, so I had to go up to the next one. Nope. He wasn't there, either.

I finally found him at the very end of the third hallway, glaring at Mike as he approached said territory.

"Bella!" he called out. "Wait up! We can go in together!"

I wrinkled my nose and knocked as hard as a human could, desperate to get away from the moron that was swiftly getting closer.

"What!" the mayor finally yelled.

"Um, I have something for you." I didn't even know what it was, but I figured it would get him to open the door.

"Fine."

He wheeled himself over to the door, which he opened, and I threw the package into his lap and jogged away.

"Hey, what's in it?"

"No idea!"

Mike kept saying my name, the mayor kept telling him to shut up, and I kept running away from them until I was almost outside. I almost made it out…

"Excuse me, young lady? Could you escort me to the power room?"

What the fuck? I never asked anyone to 'escort me to the power room' when I was young, and I had three hundred years on her, easily.

I rolled my eyes before turning around. The lady had bright white hair, blue eyes and wore the _wrong _shade of red lipstick. If it weren't for the fact that she was trembling all over, I wouldn't have helped her.

"Yes. Where is it?"

She pointed to the left with her crinkly finger, and I got behind her and began to push her wheelchair.

"So, what's your name?" she asked me.

"Bella. What's yours?"

"My name? I'm Sarah, dear."

"Okay, Sarah." We wheeled around the corner and got to the 'powder room', as she called it, and she hopped out of her wheelchair like she was in her twenties.

"What the hell do you need a wheelchair for if you can hop like that?"

"I can walk for about five minutes before collapsing."

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that." Wow. I was on a _roll _today; I hadn't been this nice since…well, it's been a long time.

"It's just a fact, dear. Focus on the positive things instead of the negative."

I'm not exactly what you'd call a "positive person", I suppose.

I followed her into the bathroom and waited by the sink, looking in the mirror. I had never really liked my appearance; I was sexy and better looking than any human supermodel, and I knew that. Still, I couldn't help but criticize myself when I looked in the mirror: I was too thin. My breasts weren't quite big enough. My eyes were big and round, but they lacked a certain charisma that I saw in some other peoples' eyes.

I guess I was slightly frowning, because the old lady said, "You're beautiful, dear." I glanced back at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Let's get you back in the chair, shall we?"

After she thanked me, I helped her into the chair and was on her merry way. I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes Newton rounded the corner, eyes lighting up when he saw me. I could've made an exit, but that would be hard to explain to the humans."

"Go away, Mike."

"Bella, let's stop playing hard to get, shall we?"

If he were a vampire, I would've slapped him. "I'm not _playing _anything, Mike. And please, for the love of God, stop smiling. It's fucking unsightly!"

He looked wounded as I turned around.

"Please, Bella?" he shouted, causing all the geezers that weren't deaf to turn around and look at us. "Don't give up on us!"

"There _IS_ no us!"

A man wheeled up to me and said, "Come on, now. Don't be cold and heartless. Give the poor boy a chance!"

"Cold and heartless? He's been stalking me for the last three years!" Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. Who says that they need to know that, though?

"I haven't even known you for three years!" Mike yelled, making matters worse. "Just go out on one date with me, and I'll never bother you again."

"First, that's a lie. Second, I would rather date Jamie Lee Curtis than go out with you."

His face crumpled. "So you're a lesbian?"

People were slowly filling in the room, wanting to see the most action that they ever would see for the rest of their little old lives.

"No!"

He smiled again. "Great. So we're on for Saturday night?"

"NO! I'm not going _anywhere _with you, you idiot!"

He rolled his eyes. "_I'm _not the stupid one here, Bella. I can see that our love is true. Why do you test it again and again?"

"The only thing anyone's testing is my patience. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

I walked out of the building with full intentions of never going in again. Mike followed me like a little lost puppy, trying to find its way home but not knowing how.

I walked into the grocery store, not even knowing what I was looking for.

"What are you looking for?" he asked me, picking up a box of chocolate chip cookies.

I said the first thing I thought of. "Fig Newton Bars."

He chuckled around the cookie he had just shoved in his mouth, walking towards the breakfast bar isle. He picked up a jumbo pack of them and threw them at me, continuing on to the boxes of cereal.

Somehow, we ended up grocery shopping together, which is beyond stupid because I didn't even need any of the stuff I was buying and Mike's parents owned their own grocery store, where he could get everything for free.

When we finally finished, Mike managed to fill up a whole cart with food and other miscellaneous items. I had my Fig Newton bars.

We stopped at the checkout station, and I saw a shock of dark bronze hair. _No. No. No. Edward Cullen cannot see me buying a jumbo pack of Fig Newton Bars. Fuck!_

I realized I had said the last thing aloud, because Mike looked over and said, "What?"

"Nothing," I muttered darkly, with every intention to run for the hills before Edward even saw me.

"Bella?" Edward asked right before I could make my grand escape.

"Damn it."

Mike looked confused; _that's _a surprise. "Who's that?"

"Edward Cullen," he introduced himself, extending his hand. Mike looked at it like it was diseased before shaking it daintily, as if he were afraid that his wrist was about to snap in half.

It probably would have if he had tried to shake _my _hand.

"Mike Newton."

"So, Edward. What are you doing here?" That was a stupid question to ask, I suppose.

"Buying shampoo for my sister. And yourself?"

Ah, the walk of shame. "Just buying a jumbo pack of Fig Newton Bars."

"Oh…" I can see how that wouldn't make sense to him, I guess. Eventually, after a long and awkward silence, he said, "Well, why don't you let me pay for those?"

"No!" I snapped, hugging them tightly to my chest.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"You can buy my groceries!" Mike piped in. Edward took his cart from him without taking his eyes off me, challenging me.

"No, no, no." I think I made my point.

"Please?" He cheated by looking up from underneath his thick, dark and ultra long lashes.

I snorted. "No way in hell. Later, Fig Newton." I walked out of the store with the box still in my hand, and workers running after me; I shrugged it off and continued walking home, ignoring all of their shouting and protests. I placed the box carefully against my tree and sat down.

Now, what to do about Mike Newton? It was thinking time.

**AN: Good or bad, people? The major drama's going to start in the next couple chapters. Reviews are, as always, appreciated.**

**-Evangeline**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Enjoy!**

**Chapter Eight**

**BPOV**

Fig Newton Bars are not delicious; let's just leave it at that.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt sick and exhausted, as a result from staying up all night because I was considering what I was supposed to do about Mike Newton. He was getting too close for a human.

My first thought was to kill him; and I would have, if it weren't for the fact that the Cullens decided to move to town and interfere with my agenda. They'd be all up in my business for the next decade or so, and that was the last thing I needed in a situation like this.

Most of you are probably thinking, 'what's the big deal? All you did was go grocery shopping together". Well, in case you forgotten; Fig Newton has stalker-ish tendencies, which means that he'll always remember me. And if he saw me in fifty years, he would be able to tell that I hadn't aged.

Thankfully, he wasn't the most observant person. Somehow, the humans managed to overlook my whiter-than-milk skin and general attractiveness.

I walked towards Port Angeles, carefully avoiding anyone that would ask me to do any favors for them; yesterday was enough for me. This time I actually managed to hunt, thankfully: I found a red head with a _lot _of blood in her. She could probably last me a good three weeks before I would be thirsty again.

I didn't hunt out of thirst; I did it out of habit. When you're a newborn, all you can think about is blood and you hunt constantly. I guess I just kept on doing it.

I saw Jacob walking out of a restaurant with a ginger. _Jacob had a girlfriend?_

Time to sabotage his date. "Jacob! Wait up!"

He turned around, looking thoroughly horrified to see me standing next to him. "What are _you _doing here?"

"What do you _think _I'm doing here?"

"Excuse me for a minute," he all but snapped at her, dragging me by my arm to the nearest dark alley.

What was it about dark allies that all mythical creatures liked so much? It was like a beacon to us.

"Leave us alone, Bella," he said in a low voice. Just in case someone was imbecilic enough to casually stroll through a dark, lonely alley in the middle of nowhere.

"But I just got here!" Wow, I must really be bored. I'm wasting my time by infuriating a werewolf.

"And now you're leaving."

"I don't think so." I stood with my back pressed up against the brick wall and my arms crossed, clearly showing him that I wasn't messing around.

"Why are you doing this, Bella?" He sounded so desperate, like a baby that needed their mother.

Maybe _he _can help me… I saw the plan forming behind my eyes and smiled evilly, realizing exactly what I needed to do.

"Mike just won't leave me alone…"

I'm going to stage the dogs into killing Mike for me. And then I'll tell the Cullens that they did it.

**EPOV**

After I spent over two hundred dollars on Mike Newton's groceries, he left me alone and went home. It wasn't like I cared; we had so much money that we literally _needed _to give it away. If it weren't for Alice spending millions of dollars every year on clothes for everyone, I don't even know what we'd do with all that left over money.

I drove home, wrinkling my nose at Rosalie's shampoo every time its scent came drifting up to my nose. It smelled like seaweed and coconut; I can't imagine _why _she would want to put that putrid scent in her hair. On the bottle, it said: _makes hair shiny and moist. Great for thickening thin hair._

The thing that annoyed me most about Rosalie was that she already _knew _she was beautiful; it was inevitable, because of the way humans stare at you. She was always trying to perfect what was already perfect. It didn't make sense to me.

Since when did my opinion matter, though?

I mumbled random comments about shampoo to myself until I got home. I got out of the car and ran up the rest of the driveway, not in a mood to walk; I was particularly impatient tonight.

"Rose," I called out, no louder than a human would be quietly talking to a friend, "I've got your shampoo."

She was there in less than five seconds, snatching up the bottle from my hands. "Thanks. What took you so long?"

I rolled my eyes. Rosalie was not what you'd call "appreciative", most of the time. She was too busy focusing on how much she hated being a vampire. "Mike Newton asked me to pay for his groceries. I busted over two hundred on that kid, and I don't even know him."

She glared at me. "Well, if you didn't know him, why'd you pay for his stuff? We don't have an endless supply of money, Edward."

You've _got _to be kidding me. "Yes, we do! We have to give money away to charities because we have too much!"

She shook her head in disappointment. "No, Edward. No."

She stalked away with her shampoo bottle in hand. I hear the shower run about a minute later and figured that I might as well be useful, so I picked up all the trash Emmett had left laying around and took out the bag.

Esme thanked me and Carlisle looked at me approvingly. I didn't see Alice, and I assumed she was still angry with me for not telling her the truth.

How very wrong I was.

I saw Jasper on the way up the stairs. "Come here for a second," he hissed, shoving me into his room and locking the door.

"What?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what's about to happen."

Alice suddenly burst the door open, flying into the room with stacks of paper in her hands.

"Guess where I've been?" she sang.

I shrugged and Jasper sighed, giving me another apologetic look before sitting down on the bed next to me.

"The library!"

"Why were you at the library, Alice?" Honestly, I really didn't care why she was at the library. I was just speeding up the process.

She didn't even bother to hide her malicious grin. "Because I was looking up everything I could find out about Bella Swan."

"Why would you do that, Alice?" Was this conversation going anywhere?

"Because you _like _her."

"Not particularly, no. She's not exactly what I'd call 'amiable'."

"No, you idiot. You have a crush on her!" Ah, the conversation had gone somewhere. Not in a good way, but at least we were getting _somewhere_.

"Let me make this very clear for you: I do not like Bella Swan romantically. In fact, I do not like Bella Swan period. And the word 'crush' means to smash something to pieces. It's not a word to use as a term of endearment or a sign of affection. "

"Edward, stop lying. We all know that you like her. Don't try to hide it."

I raised my eyebrow, ready to be done with this conversation. "Well, if you two know that for a fact, then you know obviously know something that I don't."

"No, no, no. Edward, you're blocking your feelings. We're going to work on this tomorrow."

What had meant to be a final statement to end the conversation once and for all had turned into an invitation for Alice to attempt to dissect my inner psyche.

'Can I leave now?" I asked her, figuring there was no point in arguing.

"Yeah. Meet me tomorrow in the living room at eleven."

I shook my head, refusing to make any sort of empty promise.

When I didn't come down the next morning, Alice knocked down my door and came to me.

She was sitting cross-legged on my floor while I refused to move from my position on the bed, hoping that she would leave it alone if she saw that I wasn't going to participate.

She didn't.

"How often do you think about Bella?"

_Lie._ "Once a day."

"Liar. How often do you think about Bella?"

Damn it. "I don't know, Alice! I don't count how many times I think about her!"

"Multiple times," she muttered, scratching down scribbles in her spiral notebook.

"Are you ready for the next question?" she asked when she had finished writing.

"No."

"Great! What color are her eyes?"

"Black. You already knew that."

She smiled knowingly. "Yeah. But the key is how quickly you responded."

"But Alice, that's not—

"Next question: how many times have you spoken to her?"

Ugh. That's a complicated question, Alice. How was I supposed to answer _that _without lying?

"Look, Alice…"

"Answer the question!" she screeched, obviously not in a patient mood.

"I don't know, okay? I don't know!" I held my hands up in surrender.

She was back to being calm in a matter of seconds.

"Unknown amount of time."

She looked up with a twinkle in her eye. "You were gone for an entire night and refused to give details as to where you were, correct?"

"Alice!"

"Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"And were you with Bella?"

Damn it. "…Well, technically speaking, yes."

"And what happened?"

My eyes widened. "Okay, that's enough! Get out!"

She laughed. "That's okay, Eddie; I've already got everything I need."

She skipped out happily, leaving me there to brood and break several objects as I heard her discussing…inappropriate things concerning me with Carlisle and Esme. I almost considered marching down the stairs and informing them that my sex life was absolutely none of their business; but I was too mortified to even move a foot from my bed.

"I don't like Bella," I reminded myself aloud. Inside, though, I knew a completely different story.

** BPOV**

There were a few minor glitches in the plan; nothing I couldn't fix. If I were a normal person, I would probably feel guilty beyond belief at the thought of framing murder on a bunch of innocent dogs, even if they were my natural enemies.

It's a damned good thing I'm normal, in this case.

It all made sense, really: Jacob was gullible. Edward was too sensible to suspect anything from me. The rest of the Cullens didn't know anything about me, so they weren't much of an issue. Mike Newton was a weak little human that didn't stand a chance. No problems.

The only thing I was worried about was Charlie getting involved. Jacob also happened to be close to Charlie, and I don't think he would believe the pack to be capable of murder. Seeing as Charlie was the head of police, the townspeople would automatically look to him. This makes Charlie the small glitch in my plan.

I would come up with a solution, though; I always did. I needed Mike out of here before he ruined things for all of us.

**AN: Ooh! Maybe Bella's completely evil! I really do appreciate it when people take the time to tell me what they think about my stories. It helps me improve any problems that you guys have with the story; so we all win. Thanks for reading!**

**-Evangeline**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Enjoy!**

**BPOV**

Being the creative bitch that I am, I came up with a solution fairly quickly: drug Charlie, find the nearest criminal in the Seattle area, and frame it on them to make it look like they kidnapped them.

I could make a fucking business out of this: Bella's Bitchy Store for all Things Diabolical. I could sell things to make traps with, give people advice to get out of uncomfortable situations and give out lists of criminals.

I digress; the working life is simply not for me. Now, it's time to get down to business. One step at a time.

**EPOV**

When I finally worked up the nerve to go down to the living room the next day, Esme smiled cheekily at me and walked out of the room. Emmett gave me thumbs up and a boisterous laugh while Jasper smirked, obviously reading further into the situation than the rest of them.

Alice bounced into the room and curled herself around me. I didn't return her hug because she was the one that had spread the false rumor in the first place.

"Eddie?"

I glared at her. "Yes, Alice?"

"What's wrong?"

"Well, if you release me, I might consider telling you."

She pouted as she let go of me. "Now, what's going on?"

Isn't it obvious? "Well, Alice, my problem would be that you started a false rumor that's forever tainted my reputation."

Emmett sighed, sounding disgusted. "You mean you _still _haven't gotten laid?"

Ugh. "No, Emmett! I have abstained from sex for two hundred and ten years and have no desire to stop now."

Rosalie walked in the room. "Edward, that's a crime. You should be getting some at least twice a week. It's not good for you to keep all that pent up energy inside of you."

"Rosalie, please! That's _disgusting!_"

Alice obviously still hadn't finished. "Edward, get out of this house. And don't come back until you've gotten fucked."

I stared at all of them, horrified. As I gazed into each of their evil eyes, it was clear to me that they weren't joking. I started to mentally panic.

"If I bring Bella back here to tell you that we didn't…have intercourse, will you believe me then?"

"Who cares? Until you've had sex, whether it's for the first or second time, you're not welcome here."

Esme walked in from the kitchen, having missed out on all the conversation; what a pity that was. "What's going on in here?"

Alice was never one to keep secrets. "Mom, Edward still hasn't had sex!"

She looked over at me, shocked and amused. _"Really? _Edward, I know that you're a gentleman and all, but seriously…"

My mouth dropped open.

"Okay, let me analyze things, here: the last time I checked, Esme, you were proper and polite. The Esme I know would never encourage me to have sex."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Uh, yeah she would. She gives me tips all the time."

Oh, gross. "Forgive me if I throw up in our most prized house plant, ladies and Jasper." Emmett scoffed and ran over to me, punching me in the jaw. "Okay, I probably deserved that. Maybe. The point is, I'll…complete activities when I'm ready to. Understand?"

They all shook their heads, much to my dismay. "Look, I live here, too. You can't just kick me out."

Carlisle walked in the door, late from work. "Sorry I'm late, everyone. Edward, I hereby banish you from this house until you've had sexual intercourse."

No way in hell had I heard that correctly. _"Excuse me?"_

"You heard me, son. It's nice that you want to treat women with respect, but this is ridiculous. Going two hundred and ten years without sex is unhealthy.

"You can pick anyone you want. I don't care who they are; just bring them back here for proof. Don't come back a virgin, Edward."

I shook my head and stomped out of the house, not believing what I was hearing. "What kind of a family are you people?" I muttered to myself, earning unwanted laughter as I made my way down the sidewalk.

There was only one person that I knew I could go to, and she was the last person in the world that I wanted to see at that very moment.

**BPOV**

"Jacob, I seriously don't know what to do. He just won't leave me alone and he's bordering on threatening to expose our identities."

He frowned, stupidly following along with my plan. "Well, this can't go on. I'll have to discuss this with the pack; but I already know Sam's going to agree with me. It'll be fine, Bella."

I tried not to act too softly, because he would realize something was wrong. Instead, I gave him a hard glare and pointed to the door; if I weren't acting, he would've gotten a slap to the face for telling me that. He got the message and left, giving me one last wave. As he trotted through the forest, truly looking like a dog, I knew that this was going to be harder to pull off than I had originally planned.

Jacob was smart; I had to give him that. Fortunately, I was an evil genius, so his relative intelligence wasn't very intimidating to me.

"Charlie, enjoy your last night before things start to get weird," I muttered, heading out to find my criminal.

I scowled and stopped as I recognized Edward through the shadows, quickly approaching me and looking bitchier than ever.

"To what do I owe this great pleasure?" I asked sarcastically, already turning the opposite direction. I didn't have time for his innocent little games.

"Did we have sex?" he blurted out, looking nervous.

Oh. I rather liked this question. "Why? Do you want to?"

It was like his brain didn't comprehend my question. "What?"

Idiot. "Do. You. Want. To. Fuck?"

He scowled at me as the pieces came together in his brain. "No. Just answer my question."

I laughed, having way too much fun with this. "No, Edweiner. We didn't fuck. Why do you ask; are you guarding your virginity from someone?"

"Well, sort of."

That caught me off guard. I was intrigued. "Do tell."

He gestured to the ground. I rolled my eyes and plopped myself down, not very enthusiastic to take up any more time than I already had.

"My family thinks it's time I had sex. I don't."

_ That's_ his huge surprise? "Then tell them to stay the fuck out of your business."

His eyes twitched at my profanity. "I did. In more delicate terms, that is."

I rolled my eyes. "Then what's the problem?"

"_They_ think it's their business, no matter what I say! They've completely disregarded my feelings and are focusing on my health."

I lifted my hands up dramatically. "Oh, the horror! Edward, your feminine-ness frightens me."

He shrugged. "At least my criminal record wouldn't make people gag if thy read it."

I smirked slightly. "Touché, Cullen; now what the hell do you want? I _do_ have life, you know."

"No, you don't."

I stretched my leg over to kick him, causing him to clutch his knee. "Owe! Why'd you do that?"

"It doesn't matter now. The past is the past. Now let's get you off my property."

He frowned. "Where do you live, Bella? Where's your house?"

"How stupid can you _be_? I thought I'd made it abundantly clear by this point that this _is _my home. I have no use for electricity."

He blinked. "Look: I don't really care. What I do care about is that we get my family to stop hassling me and allow me to live with them again."

"They kicked you out of the house because you're a virgin?"

"Yes."

I chuckled. "Wow; they are some touch motherfuckers. What do I have to do with any of this?"

He shook his whole body in exasperation. "I need you to lie to my family and tell them we've had sex, okay? Can you do that?"

Hmm. Why lie when I could get something while telling the truth, too? "No, Edward. I cannot tell a lie."

He scoffed. "Oh, please. You're lying just by saying that."

I shrugged. He was right about that, at least. "Shut up. Here's my condition: we have sex. And then I'll go tell your precious little family that we have and we can all live happily ever after."

He managed to get past his horror to use sarcasm. "Your cynical tone amuses me greatly, Bella. I have to intentions of allowing you to taint me, however."

I closed my eyes in frustration, because things were starting to get behind schedule. "Look, Cullen, I've made my offer. You can either take it or leave it."

I got up and walked about half a mile, him following me, calculating in his little head about what he wanted to do.

Finally, he spoke up. "I want to get to know you better, okay? Maybe if I could at least _like _you a little bit, I might find having sex with you bearable."

I glared at him. "You sure know how to sugarcoat things, Cullen."

He shrugged and we walked in silence. I considered my options. If I had Edward with me, there would be no need for the plan at all…

"Okay, Eddie. You can live with me for a couple of days, since it seems to be so hard for you to make up your mind."

He looked satisfied, so I continued walking. "We live right where we were five minutes ago: against those two trees in the forest. If you're planning on getting it on, you'd better get used to physical contact."

He looked nervous for about a second before tentatively placing his arm around me, our sides close together. There was a strange little tingle that I got when he touched me—it was, strangely enough, extremely pleasant.

I had a smug smile on my face for the rest of the night. I could relax, tell the dogs to forget it, and still have Charlie on my side the next day.

The plan was off.

**AN: Sexy times ahead, people. Sexy times ahead. Cyber hugs to anyone who's amazing enough to review.**

**-Evangeline**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Enjoy!**

**Chapter Ten**

**EPOV**

I had been following Bella around all night, desperate for a way out of my situation. I most certainly did not want to lose my virginity to Bella Swan. Physically, I was sexually attracted to her; mentally, however, was a _completely _different story.

"Where _are _we?" I eventually asked her. It was the crack of dawn, I was tired, and I didn't want to be here.

"Well, Edward, we are in the heart of the forest. Why did we walk around all night, might you ask? Because I don't want to sleep in the same vicinity as you."

I scoffed. "What, so now I'm vermin or something? I have a bit of dignity, believe it or not."

She raised her eyebrow, stopped walking and turned around so that we were face to face. "So, your idea of dignity is coming to me, begging to lie about having sex with you?"

She's lucky she's a girl, or I would've punched her by now. "Bella, trust me: I came to you as a last resort. You are not my idea of an ideal girl to bring home and meet the family."

"Why not? I can be…classy."

I snorted. "Don't laugh, Bella."

"You're going to get slapped if you keep it up." I looked over to find the source of the voice and found Jacob Black staring at me, looking ready to do that very thing he had just mentioned: slap me.

"Hello, Jacob."

"Whatever." He completely ignored me and loped over to Bella's side. "Bella, I think I found a solution to our problem."

"What problem?" I admit it: being nosy is not one of my most attractive features.

Bella took in a deep sigh. "There is no problem. Jacob, I lied. I was going to use you as leverage…but that plan kind of got fucked up when Edward came to me and asked me something."

Jacob's eyes were wider than saucers. "You…_used _me as _bait_? Just so that stupid bloodsucker over there wouldn't hold a grudge against you?"

Oh, great. Why do I always have to get involved in these situations?

She shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. Look; don't take it personally, alright?"

"DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY? You could've gotten one of us _killed_! Forgive me if I think that's a problem!"

She closed her eyes, looking annoyed. "Jacob, why do you have to look at things like that?"

"Like _what_?"

"Excuse me," I butted in. "I would kind of like to know what's going on, because it sounds like I'm involved with it somehow." I glared at her. "Don't worry. Seeing as it's you, Bella, I doubt anything will really surprise me."

"Oh, don't worry, Edward; you will be. And by the way, I'm on your side now." _Jacob Black is on my side now?_

"Eh?" Well, Bella didn't sound too happy.

"Bella was going to kill Mike Newton because he supposedly knew too much about your identities—which I don't even believe—but she realized that your family would become suspicious of her. So she got me to do her dirty work for her.

"I don't know the entire story, but what I do know is evil, sick and just plain wrong."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Please. Don't flatter me. It's seriously not going to get you anywhere."

"What do you want, Bella?" he asked, sounding desperate.

"I wanted Mike Newton dead! Now that I have Edward on my side, though, it's not much of an issue."

Hold on, now. "And who said, exactly, that I was on your side?

"I did."

Oh, great; now she's challenging me. I usually don't do very well with this.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not."

She gave a death glare. "What have I ever done to you to make you dislike me so strongly?"

"Well, first, you've never done anything _to_ make me like you. Second, I've never heard you say something that isn't rude; your sarcasm deflates any redeeming qualities that you have in you; and you're a generally mean person."

Before I knew what had happened, she had slapped me. _Hard._

"I told you," Jacob muttered before patting me on the back and leaving.

"What the hell?"

Her eyes widened condescendingly. "What do you mean, 'what the hell'? You just told me that I had no redeeming qualities! Rather or not that's true is irrelevant!"

I shook my head. "I didn't say that; I said your sarcasm hides any redeeming qualities you have. And that means that you have some, does it not?"

"No, it doesn't! If you tell a sarcastic person that their sarcasm is getting in the way, it means that their personality is getting in the way, which means that they're getting in the way!"

Okay; that was positively mind-boggling. "Don't you think you're reading just a little bit too far into this?"

"No."

"Well, I do, and I'm the one that said it."

"Fine. Whatever."

"Fine."

We stood there in silence for an immeasurable amount of time. The guilt starting eating at me almost immediately, until I finally broke down.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have told you that!"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Just forget about it."

She stalked off and I followed her. If it were anyone else in the world, I would've been surprised that they didn't apologize; this wasn't just anyone in the world, though. This was Bella Swan.

**BPOV**

As I walked through the forest, I felt annoyance and discomfort seeping inside of me.

I don't know why, but for some reason, some of Edward's comments hurt me in a way that no one's had in centuries. It wasn't a feeling that I had missed very much. 

Edward was so desperate for me to care about things; and that was the exact opposite of how I had been doing things for the last two hundred years. I refused to allow anyone, especially Edward Cullen, hurt me.

It had all started when I was just a child, over three hundred years ago. My mother, Renee, was a _bitch_; she told me I was ugly and fat and blamed me for my father leaving. Back then, I was a wise child and knew that she just needed someone to blame it on.

As I got older, she called me a whore whenever she saw me talking to anyone that wasn't female, regardless of his or her age. Our relationship progressively got more and more abusive as time went on; of course, she had hit me when I was young. That was just how children were raised back then.

Eventually, it got so bad that I became suicidal. I had literally no self-esteem and didn't know what to do with my life—so I just decided to end it. We had been on a vacation in Italy; she said it was for work. Later in life, I found out she had been seeing some man that lived there. I found this out because they got married and lived there until their deaths, which was much, much later.

I don't really even remember what happened on that final night. I had been at some sort of party, which was the first night I met Aro. The next thing I can remember is that I was dramatically plunging a knife through my heart and blood was spewing everywhere.

The only thing I saw in my mother's eyes was hatred.

Somehow, the vampires managed to patch me back up; and here I am today. Which brings us back to the present: Edward is grating on my nerves because he's pissed at me about trying to use Jacob as bait.

We were arguing about where we were supposed to spend the night.

"Edward, why would we go all the way back there?" He wanted to walk all the way back to where I usually slept, which was probably twenty minutes away even if we were running.

"Because, Bella, I need to get used to the new atmosphere."

I scoffed. "It's a motherfucking forest, Edward. It's all the same."

"No, it isn't, actually. The trees are taller and wider here."

"Look: I don't give a damn about your trees. If you want to waste your time and go back to the edges of the forest, be my guest. I'm making camp for the night."

He gave me a long and withering glare before sitting down and crossing his long legs, avoiding my eyes.

"Why are you so happy to argue with people?"

I shrugged. "It gives me _something _to do, at least."

We spent the rest of the night annoying the hell out of each other. I was not particularly looking forward to the next morning, in which I would be spending more time with Edward Cullen.

**AN: **


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: In this chapter, we learn a little bit more about Bella's past. She's a very complex character, and she needs to be dissected slowly, piece by piece, or her reasoning for things will be confusing to you guys. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Eleven**

**BPOV**

I will fuck Edward Cullen up if he sighs deeply one more time.

Of course, I could see that there were some obvious issues with this plan: he could take me down without any effort whatsoever, and I would look pretty fucking stupid. Also, he was only deeply sighing because I had been a bitch all night long. Still, I'm sure I could've found a way.

He did it _again. _He was inhaling deeply through his mouth, heaving in and out dramatically like his life was ending. Drama queen.

"Would you please shut the hell up?" I asked, semi-politely.

He smirked despite his obvious boredom. "There's no need to be so kind, Bella."

"Don't worry. Now that you've given me permission, I can easily fix that error."

"Damn. Can't you just be nice for once?"

Too late now. "Did you not just ask me to _stop_ being kind?"

"I was being sarcastic."

"I'm sorry, what does that mean?"

He inhaled deeply for probably the fiftieth time that night. "Can't we just find something to do, since neither one of us are going to be able to get to sleep?"

I wriggled my eyebrows. "Sure. We could get started on what you came here for. There's _so much _that I could teach you!"

His nose wrinkled in disgust. "No, thank you."

He sure knows how to flatter someone. "Well, Edward, when are we going to have sex?"

"I told you: I want to get to know you better first."

I sighed exasperatedly. "Fine, then. What do you want to know?"

"Where did you live as a human?"

Easy. "Right here in Forks."

"How old are you?"

I scowled at that one. "That's rude. And I'm three hundred and sixty six, for your information."

He let out a low chuckle. That's hot. "Tell me about your human life."

I froze. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because…because we're vampires now and it doesn't matter."

"But I would like to know more about your past experiences."

If I want him to shut up, I'll have to make an innuendo out of that. "I can _show _you better than I can _tell _you."

I crawled over into his lap, ignoring the fact that his legs were still folded and shifted around until he was a perfect pillow for my petite body.

"Um…are you going to move?"

I chuckled "No."

He sighed and leaned his head back against the tree we were leaning against, struggling to feel at least somewhat comfortable.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?" I asked him, amused.

"Yes…well, no."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "It means that I'm uncomfortable with the situation; not with you."

"Will you ever get over your phobia of physical comfort of people outside of your family?"

He scowled. "I don't have one. "

I raised my eyebrow. "Oh, really? Then grope me."

He looked appalled. "What…I would never…no."

I snorted. "Come on, Edward; is it because you're afraid of me? Do I intimidate you?"

"Yes, your seventy pound, five foot body intimidates me greatly."

I smacked his arm. "I weigh a hundred and six pounds, thank you very much."

"That's a huge difference."

I struggled to look up at his face; instead, my face ended up smashed against his throat. "Where did all this sarcasm come from?"

My voice came out muffled and unclear because of the uncomfortable position, but he managed to understand me. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me."

I shook my head, not bothering to move. Despite his unease, I was quite comfortable where I was sitting. His arms were strong and protective; never mind the fact that I didn't need protecting.

He started humming a random classical song under his breath, tapping his fingers against my back in rhythm. I became even more relaxed, enjoying the deep and soothing sound of his voice.

Eventually, I found myself yawning. He had shifted back at some point so that I was more or less lying on top of him, because apparently he was tired, too. I knew that I should've moved, but I didn't want to.

_Don't do this, Bella_, I reminded myself. _Don't let it happen again._

I hadn't just developed bitterness to feelings in general for no reason, believe it or not. I wasn't always this way.

It was a long, long time ago; I was young and naïve, desperate for a distraction to keep me from thinking about my existence. In my early days of my new life, I wasn't so…accepting of what I was.

I was angry with Aro for making me what I was, and I didn't want to accept the fact that there was no way to change it or take it back. I was _way _too optimistic.

I hated practically everyone in the Volturi; I blamed them all for what had happened to me. I saw no reason why they couldn't have stopped him. I know now, of course: Aro was their tyrant. When he said something, they did it; no exceptions.

There was one, though, that wasn't so bad. His name was Felix and he was very handsome, with black hair and black eyes. He was much like I am today: bitter and cynical. I guess it rubbed off on me.

One day I met him, and the next day we were fucking every night. I didn't see anything wrong with it because I was vulnerable and influence able, and he saw that. He convinced me that having a relationship with only the physical and none of the emotional concepts was acceptable, and I believed him.

It went on for years. He would put me down and insult me, but I didn't see it at the time; I always managed to twist it into a compliment or "constructive criticism", instead of looking at it for what it really was: an emotionally abusive relationship. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he was good at it, too.

I didn't know, at the time, that he had been married to Heidi, a gorgeous tall girl with black hair. Before I found out about them, she found out about us.

It had been a long day and I was walking into monstrosity some would call a home, bracing myself for the "constructive criticism" I was sure would come. Some of the most frequent things he would say would be, "Ugh! Look at your hair! Have you ever heard of a brush?", or, "Why the long face? Did you look at yourself in the mirror again?" **(That's where her hatred of looking in mirrors comes from.)**

He called me stupid; he called me fat; he called me worthless. For some unknown reason, I put up with it all. I somehow convinced myself that what he was doing was okay.

I walked up to his room and found Heidi standing there in one of his shirts, staring at me. She held up one of my shirts, which I had left on the floor the night before, and asked me why it was in their room.

Confused, I answered, "What do you mean, 'your room'?"

She stood up, looking angry beyond relief. "Is this your shirt?"

"Yeah."

"Why's it in here?"

"Because I took it off last night."

She screamed and clawed at me time after time while I stood there, unable to fight back and bewildered.

"Why are you so angry?" I stupidly asked.

"I'm angry because you've been screwing my husband behind my back for God knows how long!"

Realization dawned on me and I felt an intense nausea as I leaned against the door, willing myself not to throw up in front of her. She'd been through enough already.

"You're…married?" To this day, I couldn't believe how pathetic I sounded.

She thought I was lying, of course; when can things ever be fair and go the way they're supposed to? She ranted and screamed at me, and I actually managed to learn a few curse words from her.

Just when I thought I couldn't feel any more awful, Felix walked in the room. "Bella? What are you doing here?"

Judging by our faces, he found out what was going on soon enough. Instead of apologizing like he should've, though, he managed to make it sound like it was my fault that he had been lying to both of us for the last hundred years.

He yelled at me, and he hit me. Even back then, it was inexcusable for a man to hit a woman, so I was a shock to me. It showed me the man that he _really _was.

After that, I became the person that I am today. I yelled angrily at Aro that night and packed up, seemingly never to return again. A hundred years after that, though, I did. Felix was gone and I haven't heard from him since; Heidi hates me to this day.

At some point that night, I must've fallen asleep, because my head ended up on Edward's shoulder and his hand ended up in my hair.

For once in my life, I actually felt safe in someone's arms. I just hoped it would last.

**AN: So we've finally seen the vulnerable side of Bella! I have a bit of bad news, though: I won't be able to update until Friday or Saturday for personal reasons. I'm sorry, you guys! In the mean time, it would be super awesome if you guys would review. See you soon!**

**With much love,**

**Evangeline**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: I'm BACK! I missed you guys! Enjoy.**

**Chapter Twelve**

**BPOV**

When I woke up the next morning, I was still lying on top of Edward. His face was buried in my shoulder, probably trying to block out the noises I was undoubtedly making—I made strange noises when I slept. I didn't speak…it was more like garbling and growling.

I gently untangled myself, trying not to wake him up, and stretched my legs even though they didn't actually need stretching.

_What do I do now?_

Today, I was bound and determined to be even tougher than usual. Edward Cullen was _not _going to get to me.

As soon as he looked at me, though, that all went out the fucking window.

His eyes fluttered open and stared at me, his black orbs hazed with sleep.

"Huh?"

I bit on my lower lip, a bad habit I had been doing since before I could even remember. "Um…hello."

"Hello." His voice sounded different; it was even lower than usual and rougher. What's the word I'm looking for? Sexy?

Yeah, definitely sexy.

"What's on the agenda today?"

He shrugged. "You're the one that's in charge, here."

I smiled secretively; I'd have to remember that if I ever actually got around to screwing him.

"Well, let's see, here. We could…" I drew a blank, realizing that we didn't have anything to do.

He snorted. "Bella Swan, the creative girl that can make a poodle out of a tiny piece of wood, cannot think of anything to do today?"

I scowled at him. "Give me a minute."

He waited patiently for three more minutes, giving me time to think of something…nothing.

"We could go to the bar and drink something."

He frowned. "Well, my driver's license says I'm seventeen and alcohol doesn't effect us, anyway. So I'll have to veto that."

I sighed dramatically. "Well, what do you want to do?"

He didn't even need time to think, because he's smarter than my stupid assed- self. "We could go see Charlie Swan and check to make sure the dogs didn't do any damage."

Damn it. Of _course _he comes up with a good idea in less than ten seconds.

"Why would the dogs have done any damage?" I was grasping for straws at this point, because we both knew why: I lied.

"Because you lied and convinced them that Mike Newton was a psychopath that knew our secret and was going to expose us for what we really are."

"Fine," I grumbled, knowing that I had lost this battle. He looked smug as he walked past me, his delicious scent wafting back to my nose.

"You smell nice." Oh, my God. Why the hell did I just say that out loud? What is _wrong _with you, Bella?

"Thank you." He sounded bemused and that annoyed the hell out of me.

"Don't sound so amused. I was simply stating a fact."

"And who sounds amused? I was just thanking you for stating a fact."

I took a deep breath before I could hit him, which I just _knew _nothing good could come out of.

"You're welcome, Edward. Let's go, shall we?"

"We shall."

We walked, for the most part in silence, through the forest and downtown until we were almost to the police station. Before we could make it there, though, Edward decided he wanted to play twenty questions.

"How deep do you think the water is, right here?" he asked me, pointing down to the ocean from the cliff nearby.

I stared at him, bewildered. "Why the _hell _would I know that?"

He looked innocent enough. "I was just wondering what your estimate would be."

I sighed in annoyance. "I don't know, Edward. Eight hundred feet?"

"Well, I certainly don't know. We should keep going, should we not?"

"Yes, we should."

"I know, that's why I said it."

"I was merely agreeing with you. Is that allowed?"

"When agreement is necessary, it is more than allowed. However, I saw no need for you to respond to the statement I just made."

I didn't even have a response for that. "What is this? Etiquette school?"

He glared at me as he passed me, obviously getting defensive about his manners. I knew he was polite, but…that was just weird.

"What's your birthday?"

"September thirteenth."

"What year?"

I whacked him on the back of his head. "Owe!"

"I already told you; I'm three hundred and sixty six years old. You look like you could be a math wiz. Figure it out."

He looked like he was calculating in his head, but for once he was smart enough to not say anything.

We reached the police station and walked into it, ignoring the people across the street that were staring at us. If I had known at the time the mayhem that they were about to create, I would've rushed over and snapped all of their necks. At that moment, I was so unobservant that I didn't even notice they were vampires.

He held the door open for me as I passed by him, marching up to the front desk and asking for Charlie Swan.

"He's back there," the guy muttered while pointing his thumb behind his head.

"Well, thanks so much for being so fucking helpful."

"I can arrest you!" I would _love _to see _that _happen.

"No, you couldn't." It was obvious that he hadn't heard me as I stalked down the hall, looking for anything that would have Charlie's name on it. Finally, I found what some would consider similar to a teacher's lounge, a tiny little room with cops scattered all over it, eating and drinking from the vending machine.

"Charlie!"

He looked up from his game of go-fish (very intimidating, Officer Charlie) to give me a big smile, and then he saw Edward walk in.

"You're new in town, right?" he asked, the smile completely gone and replaced with a frown.

"Yes, sir. I'm Edward Cullen. It's nice to meet you."

Flattery wasn't the way to win Charlie's heart. "Sure, sure. Bella, what can I help you with?"

Edward looked offended and I laughed under my breath. "I just thought I'd…"

Damn it! I didn't have a reason for coming here that wouldn't seem suspicious.

"We've come to report a killing." I looked behind me to see Edward looking somewhat sheepish.

"Nice lie," I said quietly enough that the humans wouldn't be able to hear.

"It's a gift of mine."

I rolled my eyes before looking back to Charlie. "Yeah, Charlie. It's _awful_. There's blood everywhere, and people aren't doing anything, and…"

"Okay, okay. I think you can spare me of the details. Just tell me where the body is."

"Seattle."

I would've given him a more specific location, but I was in a hurry now.

"Okay. I'll take care of it."

He walked past us and we quickly followed behind, waiting until he was in his cruiser and driving away. And then we ran as fast as we could through the woods, having to take the long way to Seattle so it wouldn't look suspicious if Charlie saw us running past him.

I felt strangely exhilarated when we reached Seattle, ready to find a poor human.

Luckily, we didn't have to look far: we found Jessica Stanley leaning against the wall, talking on her cell phone.

"Not _her_," Edward hissed.

"Why the hell not? She's perfect: she's a bitch and no one will miss her."

He stood there with wide eyes as I did my thing, dragging her into the alley and snapping her neck before getting down to the gory details. **(Seeing as most of you guys are probably not into gore, I'll spare you the details.)**

"Oh…gross." Edward looked disgusted as I dragged her bloody body across the ground, leaving a dark red trail, making it easier for Charlie to find her. I threw her in the dumpster and left her legs hanging out, making it look like the perfect crime scene.

I stood back and admired my work before spinning on my heel and running away, leaving no evidence that we had ever killed Lauren Mallory.

Later that night, I got a call from Charlie telling me that he had found the body and was now on a quest to find the sadistic psycho that did it. I struggled not to say, 'thank you' when he called me that.

"Problem solved," I summarized to Edward, who was still leaning against _my _tree. "Now we just have to find someone to frame it on."

"_Oh_, no. I'm not going to blame this on a human. NO."

I sighed in annoyance for probably the thirtieth time that day. "Fine. I'll take care of it."

"Where are you going?"

"To take care of it. I'll be back in an hour."

I ran through the jungle, in no mood to take my time walking. I was pissed, I was tired, and I was stuck with Edward Cullen.

When I reached Olympia, some of the stores were still open; I already knew the one I needed. I went to the end of the street and entered the bookstore, owned by an old man that townspeople thought was insane.

Just as I had thought, he was poured across his desk at the front of the store, snoozing.

"Lazy," I muttered to myself. He made a strange noise as I gently picked him up and hoisted him over my shoulder, walking out the door and shutting it. His part was simple: all I needed was for him to put his hand on Jessica's corpse, so when the DNA samples came up, it would say that he murdered her.

I easily carried him across town and broke into the police station. It was more than a little pathetic that none of the officers stayed overnight, especially considering the fact that there had just been a murder reported that same day.

"Okay, old man. Just put your hand here." I got his hands on all the major wounds, which should do the trick just fine.

I carried him back across the town, feeling like a chauffer, and dropped him off into his chair. "Sweet dreams, you old geezer."

At least he had some fun in his life left before he died. (Which could be any day now.)

On my way back to Forks, I spotted the three vampires standing on the other side of the road, looking at me. I scowled at them, because they had red eyes, meaning that they were gorging blood and making things suspicious already. They smiled at me, making me somewhat uneasy.

The blonde guy stepped forward, probably thinking that he looked sexy because he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Hello. My name's James."

I was going to be blunt and to the point. "Great. Could you not drink so much blood? I have a reputation to hold up, you know."

The redheaded woman was by my side in a flash. "Why do you say that we're drinking too much blood?"

"Because you have red eyes. And we all know that we can only have red eyes if we drink more blood than necessary."

"Well, maybe you should mind your own business."

Oh, it's on, now. "Well, maybe you shouldn't come into my town if you're so secretive about things."

She stepped forward again, trying to intimidate me; even though she had at least half a foot on me, I remained perfectly calm. I looked over and noticed that the vampire with black dreads wasn't saying anything and raised my eyebrow at him.

"Don't you have something to say, Dreads?"

He shook his head. "No. I am the peaceful one out of the three of us."

I snorted. "Peaceful? We're vampires. How the hell can you be _peaceful_?"

The redhead really did not like me. "Look, girl: if you mind your own business, we'll leave you alone. If not…" Before I knew it, her hand had slapped me across the face, and it was on.

I punched her hard enough to send her flying backwards and stepped out of the way just in time before the blonde guy could snap my head off.

"Let me make things very clear for you: stay the hell off my land or I'll kill you."

I walked away from them, the redhead shrieking at me, and found Edward back in the forest.

"What happened to your cheek?" He looked concerned as he placed a hand on my face, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Not much. Just taking care of things."

For the rest of the night, I dodged any direct questions about where I had been, all the while looking out into the night for traces of unwanted vampires in paranoia.

**AN: Well, things are starting to get interesting! I made the killing as clean as possible…I happen to love gory movies, like Saw (and may others you guys probably haven't heard of), so gore is kind of my area of expertise. Please, **_**please **_**take the time to review if you can. I would really appreciate it.**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Prepare for drama. Enjoy!**

**Victoria's POV**

"Be careful out there. I don't like that rude girl," James reminded me; as if he hadn't made it clear enough already that he wasn't her biggest fan.

"I know, I know; I don't like her either. I'll be back soon, okay?"

He gave me a quick peck on the lips and walked back over to Laurent. I strode lazily into the woods, in no hurry to hunt again. That girl had been onto something when she told us we were drinking too much blood; we intentionally gorged and overfed ourselves. I only followed James's, my husband's, orders, so I didn't know why we did it.

It was probably just to look scary to the other vampires.

I chuckled softly to myself as I knocked over a tree that was standing in my way, humming a Chopin nocturne to myself.

"What the hell?"

Before I could finish onto my thought, I was tumbling to the ground and someone was repeatedly kicking me in the ribs, making it difficult to breathe. I groaned and grabbed my head, placing my hand over the throbbing part where this freak had kicked me, and tried to make the pain go away.

"Stop, stop!" I begged them. I futilely tried to kick them back, but it was in vain; there was no resisting their iron strength.

"What did you do to Bella Swan?"

"Who the hell is Bella Swan?" All that got me was a kick to the head. I finally was able to look up and see an abnormally handsome vampire, with dark hair and black eyes that were glaring down at me with hatred.

"Dark hair, small build. You met her a mere few hours ago."

No way. "The bitch that told me to stop drinking blood and get off my property?"

I felt another kick at my stomach. "_Don't _call her a bitch. She's just trying to protect what's rightfully hers."

"Hers? It's a fucking _state_!"

I wheezed from the pain it was causing me to talk. My ribs were broken; I was sure of it.

"Look; what do you want?" I sounded so desperate and needy that it made me want to vomit.

"I want you to leave this place and never come back."

My pride kicked in at the wrong time. "No!"

Before I could try to reason with him, I felt something snap, and fiery, unbearable pain, and then…nothing.

**BPOV**

"Edward, scoot over. You're hogging my tree."

He glared at me. "You move! You're the one that's taking up at least a third of it! And it's not _your _tree." Somehow, I had managed to sit next to him in a lame attempt to get him to have sex with me.

Epic. Failure.

I settled for climbing on top of him, and he sighed in annoyance as he struggled to find a comfortable position. I once again instantly felt safer when he put his arms around me. Even though they were still somewhat limp and unsure against my back, it was a huge improvement from the awkward and feeble way they had wrapped around me the other night.

I stared up into his eyes, searching for a topic to talk about. He beat me to the punch.

"What if Charlie finds some sort of evidence? What if you get caught?"

I glared at him. "Seriously; I know what I'm doing. Killing is my forte."

"As comforting as hearing that is, I'd rather have some kind of reassurance."

In an effort to shut him up, I pressed my hand over his mouth and shoved my knee against his groin; not hard enough for it to actually hurt him…just give him a massive hard-on.

I stared down at him evilly. "Need some help with that?"

He took in a deep breath. "Why? Why must you do this to me?"

"_You're _the one that wanted to have sex."

"If I remember correctly, you've never been opposed to the subject yourself."

"Hey, I'm always open for business."

He frowned at me, clearly missing the blatant sexual implication I had just made. I waited for about half a minute, but he just stared at me, looking confused.

"If you can't figure _that _innuendo out, then you're a fucking idiot."

"Well, not all of our brains automatically try to decode some kind of sexual meaning behind perfectly innocent words. And, for the record, I'm sure that I could figure out one of your…terms."

I shrugged. "Okay. I'll give you thirty seconds for each one."

"That seems fair."

"Can I ride your pony?"

Thirty seconds later: picture Edward with a perplexed and slightly frustrated expression on his face.

"Okay. Next: Can I give you a hand?"

Nope.

"Are you coming with me?"

No.

"I have a job for you…but it blows." Ha, ha, ha. That's a good one, whether he gets it or not.

Nope.

"Are you Irish? I can put some in you."

Of course not.

"Last one. It's simple: you'll do."

He struggled. "I…I…no."

I shook my head in shame for him and rested my head against his chest.

"You, Edward Cullen, are more innocent than most children I know."

He looked down at me. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Sometimes. It depends."

"May I have an example?"

Better to tease him then give him an actual answer. "No."

We sat in silence for most of the night. Edward started humming some creepy lullaby around midnight, and I smacked him to get him to shut up. He tried to tickle me before he found out that I'm not ticklish.

"Goodnight, Edward," I found myself saying as I dozed off on top of him. I'm sure he fell asleep not long after me, humming that fucking creepy lullaby again.

**EPOV**

"Wake up! We have to go!" Someone was slapping me across the cheek and yelling in my ear, which was not the most pleasant way to be woken up.

My instincts told me to tackle whoever was doing this, and it was too early to control them. I found my hands wrapping themselves around tiny little fists that were still pounding at me and rolling over on top of her, causing her to yell any louder.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!"

I finally opened my eyes to see Bella glaring up at me, not happy to have lost a fight to me when I was still practically unconscious.

"Sorry." My voice was hazed and groggy with sleep as I helped her sit up, massaging her sore wrists without even thinking about it. She snatched her arms back from me and mumbled something that involved an awful lot of swearing for around five o'clock in the morning.

"Why'd you wake me up?"

"We have to get out of here, Edward. There's no time to explain."

She went back into panic mode again, looking around her like she was being watched. I raised my eyebrow and signaled for her to continue. "I need more information, please."

"Okay…it's kind of a long story. I'll tell you on the way."

Before I could protest again, she had dragged me off the ground by my wrist and we were all but flying through the forest, obviously trying to get away from whatever—or whoever—was chasing us.

"Okay. Here's how it happened."

**BPOV (Flashback from earlier this morning)**

_ I was walking through the forest, struggling to keep myself entertained. Edward had woken me up when he started humming that freaky-assed lullaby in his sleep and I was too hot and bothered to bother trying to sleep again, so I got up and walked around to stretch my numb legs._

_ I discovered with much annoyance to find that I was humming that same weird song Edward had been, because it was stuck in my head. Where had I heard that song before?_

_ "Hey!" a voiced yelled at me, sounding angry. I turned around to see Blondie from last night with tears streaming down his cheeks, looking beyond furious._

_ "Oh, no. Didn't I tell you to leave me alone? And why the hell are you crying?"_

_ "You killed my wife!"_

_ I stared at him in shock, almost not registering what he had said. Before I could even try to reason with him, he was flying at me and throwing punches randomly, only a couple of them even hitting me._

_ "What the fuck are you talking about? I didn't kill anyone!"_

_ He paused for about half a second to glare at me. "Don't lie to me. I _know _it was you."_

_ "Okay, I didn't kill anyone. And I would assume we're talking about old redhead?"_

_ He screeched when I brought up her hair color and lunged for me again, this time managing to tackle me. He grabbed at my hair and pulled as hard as he could, actually managing to pull a small chunk from my head._

_ "Ouch! Damn it! Watch my hair, you bastard!"_

_ He completely ignored me, grabbing at me like he was possessed. If I were a human, I would've had bruises all over my body almost instantly. Eventually, I flung him off me and ran as fast as I could, with him fast on my trail._

_ "You can run and you can hide, but eventually I will find you. I will kill you, slowly and painfully. And until you surrender, I'll start offing the wolves."_

_ He stopped moving and I ran back to Edward, struggling to wake him up, knowing that we had to move quickly; this bitch was on a mission. And that mission was me being dead, which I wasn't too thrilled about._

"And that's what happened," I concluded, picking up my pace even more. My legs were burning and my head was spinning, and my whole body was aching from the fight I had just been in not ten minutes ago.

"Well…what are we supposed to do, now?" he asked. I suppose that was a fairly reasonable question, given the circumstances.

"Get the dogs. We're going on the run."

**AN: Two chapters in one day? I have no life. LOL. If you're awesome, you'll review. And now you all have to review, because anyone who takes the time to read my story is awesome…seriously.**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Enjoy!**

** EPOV**

"What did you just say?" I must've heard her wrong. There was no way in hell I was going anywhere, and, seeing as were stuck together, neither was she.

"Edward, we don't fucking have _time_ for this! We have to get out of Forks."

There was something I was confused about as I stopped her by gently pulling on her arm. "Why don't you just fight them?" She was obviously a violent person by nature, so it only seemed like the natural thing for her to do.

"Because he has another member in their coven, and I don't know where he is. If we kill James, Old Dreads will just start offing the werewolves for him."

"Old Dreads?" What the hell?

She sighed in exasperation, tugging on me in an attempt to get me to move. "He has dreadlocks, okay? We have to go!"

I finally complied, feeling sick to my stomach at the prospect of leaving my family unprotected. "Bella, I can't just leave my family here. What if they find them?"

She looked sure. "They won't. He didn't mention them, and he didn't mention you, either. If he had known about you, he would've used you for leverage instead."

What's this I hear? "And why's that?"

She looked over at me disbelievingly. "Because you're a vampire, Edward! Must you romanticize everything?"

I ignored her, still thinking about my family. "I can't."

"Yes, you can. They kicked you out, Edward. They didn't want you because you were a virgin. Are those really the kind of people you want to live with and protect?"

Even though I knew she was playing mind games with me, what she said had hurt. Did they really not want me anymore? Was I that disgusting to be around, just because I had abstained from sex?

Could I abandon them, just like they had done to me?

"Let's go."

Fifteen minutes later, we were in La Push, our heads still in tact, and in search of Jacob. She had suggested we look at the car center, where he got his car parts to work with; and all the other wolves' houses; and he had not appeared at either location.

"Well, I guess we'll have to go to the house. That's where we'll find the rest of them anyway."

I automatically took a step back, not wanting to go into the house again. It was like the last piece of my promise not to speak or talk to Bella Swan; the only piece that hadn't been broken. "I don't think so."

She truly looked angry for about five seconds before her face smoothed out. "Fine. You wait here. I'll be back in ten minutes, tops."

She ran away and I looked over to my left, sensing that someone was watching me. Even my sharp eyes only caught a glimpse of white skin and black hair.

A vampire.

**BPOV**

"Sam, we don't have time to talk about this."

He merely shook his head at me. "Bella, we're not going anywhere. We'll stay here and fight, if necessary. Running away is the cowardly thing to do."

"Then be a coward for once! Why do you always have to be so righteous all the time?"

"Bella, you're a liar. I can't trust you anymore—not that I could to begin with. I don't believe a word you say."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Seriously? Would you like to see the redhead's corpse? Because it could take me a while, but I'm sure I could dig it up somewhere…"

He remained calm, almost as if he was oblivious to my anger. "We're not going, Bella. I suggest you leave now."

I slammed down my fists on the desk he was sitting behind, resulting in a large crack straight down the middle. "Damn it, Sam! You're being even more of an idiot than usual. I'm risking both my life and Edward's by stopping here to tell you that they're going to sadistically kill you all and you just sit there, drinking your coffee, as if nothing is wrong?"

"No."

I pulled out the only card I knew would work. "What about Emily?"

His eyes flashed with anger. "Leave her out of this."

"Do you want her to die? Do you want them to drain her body dry and then God knows what with her corpse?"

His bronze skin adopted a green tint in it as he thought about the possibilities of what could happen. Being a fairly reasonable man, he saw that this was the best way.

"You'd better go apologize to Jacob. He's been being a _bitch _these last couple of days. I'll round up everyone else."

"Meet me outside the house."

Destined for doom, I turned around and stalked towards the clinking noise of tools hitting walls. That's never a good sign when trying to reason with someone, in case you didn't know.

When I walked into the room, it was fucking chaotic; there were papers and cars parts everywhere, the paint was chipping off the walls, and Jacob was standing in the center of it all, looking like a psychotic version of David Bowie when he was on stage and in the middle of one of his songs. This was Jacob's artwork... destruction was his outlet.

"Hello, Jacob."

"No, bitch. Not hello; goodbye. And I'm not going on your little quest to do…who knows what you're trying to do?"

Easy. "I do. I'm trying to protect you."

"Why? You were going to kill me before."

"Nope. First, I wasn't going to let _you _get killed. Second, _I _wasn't going to kill anyone in the first place."

"Then who was?"

"You should know, Jacob, that twenty questions is not my favorite game. And I hadn't figured out whom yet. I was still working on the final details."

He scoffed. "Final details?" Instead of attempting to put all his anger into words, he threw a hammer at me at such a speed that it would've taken a human's head off. I calmly caught the object in my hands, barely even feeling the impact.

"Jacob, you're coming, whether you like it or not."

"And just how are you going to make me…" I didn't have time for anymore of his questions. I strode over to him and hit him just hard enough to knock him out without leaving any damage.

Sweeping his massive frame over my shoulder with ease, shuddering at the putrid scent, I stomped quickly out of the house and straight to Sam.

"Special delivery." Emily looked over at me with wide, scared eyes from Sam's side.

"What have you done?" That was the rudest thing I'd heard her say in the five years I'd known her; I smiled in approval, a gesture she did not return.

"_I _didn't do anything. We're going to find out who did, once we get away from this freak that wants all of us dead."

I was never really one to sugarcoat things, and this was no exception.

We reached Edward quickly and I took the lead with him walking by my side, looking like a lost puppy. "Did you have trouble convincing Jacob?"

I smirked slightly. "No." I left out the fact that I knocked him unconscious after he refused to go with us, because little Edward had enough to worry about already.

As we kept on walking, I could see that Edward was upset about leaving his family behind. I know what I did was cruel; I wasn't too happy about saying it. It was the only way to get him to leave and we both know that what I had said was true to a small extent.

Everyone was tense as I searched the back of my brain for a place to go. Suddenly, it was so clear: a place where we would be safe and secure, and no one would ever dare try to kill us.

We were going to Italy.

_ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE. ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE. ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE. _**(This is our new borderline, since nothing else works. :))**

Plane was pretty much the only way to get there, and there were no traces of any vampires besides Edward and myself on it. I sat next to him, the dogs sitting two by two behind us, and I lightly tapped my fingers on his knee while I pondered over things to say to Aro.

_Hi, dad. I know it's been a while: I haven't come back because I hate your guts and think you're a creepy loser. The only reason I'm here now is because I need you to use your power to protect me from this evil vampire that thinks I killed his wife, even though I didn't. I also need to find out who did, so I can put Blondie to rest. So, how have things been?_

Something told me that that just wasn't going to cut it. There was another problem, though: Edward didn't know about Edward. Well, no time like the present.

"Um, Edward?"

He looked over at me. "Yes, Bella?"

"I kind of have something to tell you."

"Oh, no. Tell me you're not dumping me."

I scowled. "It's kind of hard to 'dump' someone you're not 'dating', Edward. I like your usage of modern lingo, however."

"What do you have to tell me, then?" Is it just me, or did he look slightly wounded at my last comment? Interesting…

"Aro…"

"As in, _the _Aro, leader of the Voturi?"

Not helping. "Yes, that's the one."

He waited for a moment, presumably expecting me to say something. "Well?"

"He…he…he thinks he's my father. Well, he kind of is. Not biologically; he raised me in my second life, though."

He raised his eyebrow. "So, he likes to think of himself as your father figure even though you're not biologically related?"

I nodded.

"Okay. Interesting."

"Wait; that's it? It's interesting?"

"Well, it is."

"Aren't you all creeped out or something?"

He shrugged. "Why? Are you?"

"Only sometimes."

I didn't elaborate and he didn't ask me to, so we sat in a comfortable silence for another fifteen minutes. I felt his hand slip around mine, which was still on his knee, bouncing away, and gently folded them together.

And, just like that, we were holding hands. I looked down, not wanting to see his eyes; then I would be a goner.

It was amazing, how comfortable and warm I felt when he held my hand. It was a simple gesture, but it meant a lot to me. His thumb gently moved over the back of my hand, comforting me.

"It's going to be okay." I guess he could tell that I had been worrying. No matter what I told people, I always would blame myself at least a little bit for what had happened. If I hadn't been so hostile…who knows? Maybe things would've changed, maybe things wouldn't have.

"I hope you're right about that." I looked down out of the window and watched the tiny little specks of landmarks passing by, hoping that this would all be over soon.

**AN: I hope you liked it. As for reviewing: Come on, people; it'll take you less than a minute to tell me anything you liked or didn't like about the story, and it would be nice to know that you like or dislike the chapter enough to tell me your opinion about it. Please, **_**please **_**review. I really do appreciate it. As always, thank you to the amazing TWIHARDalltheway for being kind enough to review every chapter; you are awesome.**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: I apologize for not updating yesterday; real life called. However, I did put up a new story called **_**I'd Die Laughing **_**about Elena and Damon of the Vampire Diaries. Chances are, if you like this Bella, you'll **_**love**_** Damon. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Felix's POV**

I regret what I did so long ago.

I was a kind man; I had just made a few mistakes. Anything you've heard about me may be true…but only partially true.

I was young and stupid at the time; I would say that I didn't know what I was thinking, but, the truth was, I wasn't thinking at all. I was very much in love with my beautiful wife, Heidi…I had been for a long time.

When I saw Bella for the first time, she was different than anyone else; she had fire in her, passion for whatever it was she did. As soon as she saw me and I started talking to her, I changed.

Physically, I was still the same man. Mentally, I became this…beast. A hungry, sex crazed-beast that preyed on the innocent.

The situation became so bad that I can't even remember what happened after a while; I remember putting her down, of course, trying to get her to be a perfect person that just didn't exist. And then I would go home to Heidi and everything was back to normal for a while.

Bella and I could have been great friends, but everything fell apart because I was weak and feeble when it came to resisting her charms. Maybe if I had just been a little bit stronger, everything would be different now.

When Heidi and Bella found out, the beast in me completely took over and physically abused Bella. I feel sick to my stomach, just thinking about ever harming a woman in that way…it was the worst thing I had ever done, and I had done a _lot _of bad things. As a result of this, Bella left and Heidi not only kicked me out of our house, but out of the country.

I felt no real loss, though, when I said goodbye to my former wife. Some say vampires are incapable of love: who am I to doubt that? Maybe I had been in love with her, but it certainly didn't last for all eternity like it did in romance novels.

In a way, I suppose I've been trying to repent my sins for doing what I had done by following Bella around for the last hundred years. I wasn't being a creepy stalker; I was just watching over her, making sure that nothing could harm her. I had never really had to put my strength into action until I met that damned redhead.

I'm not exactly sure why I killed her: I think I sensed that she was going to do harm to the woman I still loved, in a friendly way. I wasn't going to let anything happen to her, and I would do anything, _anything_, to stop that from happening.

And that's why I'm desperately trying to find a way to get back to Italy, the country I hadn't visited in over a century, and silently praying to a God that I didn't believe in that I wouldn't run into my angry, long lost wife.

**EPOV**

Time was flying by as we all stepped off the plane, heading for the Volturi castle. What had started out as an innocent plan to convince my family to let me back in the house had turned in to a life threatening adventure of a lifetime (no pun intended).

"Bella, I'm worried about them," I muttered quietly enough that the dogs wouldn't be able to hear.

"I told you: they'll be _fine_."

I stopped walking for a second to talk to her face-to-face. "How can you be so sure?"

"Hey, keep moving!" Paul, one of the rowdier werewolves, shouted. I had learned earlier that he and Bella didn't get along very well…

Let's just say that there was a lot of shouting and expletives, shall we?

"Fuck you, Paul!"

"I'm sure _that _will solve the issue, Bella."

"I don't _care _if yelling at him is the Holy Grail to solving all our problems or not! He needs to shut the fuck up before I kill him!"

Knowing her, she meant that quite literally.

I heard a low moaning noise and inhaled gasps. I turned around to see what all the fuss was about and saw Jacob Black slowly regaining conscientiousness and stirring in Sam's arms.

"Why is Sam holding Jacob?" 

Bella shrugged. "Maybe he got tired."

I knew something was up when she said that and almost asked her to explain, but then Jacob started calling for me. I walked over to him, wrinkling my nose as I walked through a line of stench.

"What, Jacob?"

"She's evil!" 

I rolled my eyes. "Tell me something I _don't _know."

"No, she's EVIL!"

I noticed then that he wasn't pointing at Bella; he was pointing at Leah Clearwater, the most pessimistic werewolf to date. "Why's she evil?"

"Because she's the one that killed the redhead!"

I turned around, not really buying his conclusion, to see a Leah that would've had steam coming out of her ears if she was in a cartoon.

"Um, Jacob? I think you're delirious."

"No, I'm not! She dragged me with her and made me watch guard while she killed her!"

I heard a shriek and stepped in the way just in time before she could brutally assault him. Her soft, human-like skin was already beginning to bruise from hitting against my hard, marble like skin. I smirked and said, "Get control of yourself, Leah. You might get another bruise. "

She closed her eyes in concentration, deeply inhaling and exhaling. "If I try to slap you, I'll only end up with a bloody hand. Bella? Would you do it for me?"

She raised an eyebrow as I scowled at her. "You want me to bitch slap him?"

Leah's eyes actually gleamed as she nodded.

"Eh…maybe later."

I scoffed and caught up with her as she continued to walk. "Maybe later?"

"Watch it, Eddie. You're going for one right now."

I didn't even bother questioning her logic because I knew she didn't use any to begin with.

"How long until we get there?"

She looked surprised as she looked over at me. "You've never met Aro?"

"No. Why would I have?"

"I don't know…it just seems like most vampires have, I guess." I could almost swear that she was keeping something from me, but I was too tired to question her seemingly endless energy.

"How long?"

Instead of answering me, she pointed forwards.

Wow.

Huge didn't even describe how big that house was—it was pretty much what you would call a castle, and it was grand enough looking to be one, too.

"That's a _big _house," I heard one of the idiots behind us say.

Leah stepped forward. "Unless you guys think I'm going to go around and kill everyone in sight for no reason, I'd actually like to go inside, if you don't mind."

No one answered her and, once she had waited long enough for us, she stomped forward on her own.

Bella chuckled. "Oh, she's fucked."

I looked at her in alarm. "Why?"

"Because, as I was just about to tell them, they don't allow werewolves in the building. Marcus has a phobia of them."

Damn it. "Well, what do you think they'll do to her?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, they could chop her in half; they could decapitate her; they could stab her through the heart with a pitchfork; they could rip her apart limb by limb; they could rip her inner intestines out and make her eat them…"

I interrupted her when I heard some of the younger dogs start to gag. "Okay, okay; it's a death penalty."

"Hell yes, it's a death penalty. Which is why she's fucked."

I sighed in annoyance. "Bella, some of these children may not actually appreciate your excessive profanity."

"Who? Like, you?"

"I said, _children_, did I not?"

She blinked. "Yes."

I turned around. "How old are the youngest ones here?"

Sam answered. "Seth is thirteen and Mark is eleven."

Bella laughed. "Well, kids, welcome to the real world."

Seth looked offended. "I'm not a kid! I'm an adolescent!"

"Whatever you say."

They started bickering and I looked at Leah in panic; she was being an idiot and it was going to get her killed if I didn't stop her. I sighed under my breath and ran at vampire speed to stand in front of her, because she was getting awfully close to the front lawn.

"What are you doing, Cullen? Get out of my way."

"Well, Leah, maybe if you could learn to others, you would know that in…oh, let's say, fifteen feet, you'd been brutally beaten to death."

She actually looked taken aback for about ten seconds. "Well, maybe you guys should've told me _before _I went marching off to my death."

"Well, maybe you should've asked us if it would be alright to continue."

"I _did_!"

"You know what, Leah? It doesn't matter; just don't move."

She huffed as I ran back to Bella in a hurry, not particularly liking the tone that child was using with me.

"She's not moving."

Bella stopped arguing to stare at me. "Awesome."

"You say that with so much emotion. I just don't know where your passion comes from."

"I do! Your MOM!" Seth piped up, causing the other kid to laugh.

Bella laughed mockingly. "Ha, ha, ha. The 'your mom' phase. Just wait until you're older and you're meeting moms that won't leave you alone until you fuck them! Welcome to the MILF stage, kids!"

She turned on her heel and stomped away angrily, obviously not a fan of children.

"MILF?" I muttered to myself. What could that possibly mean?

Jacob was at my side all of the sudden, glaring at Bella's retreating form. "Mom I'd Like to Fuck. I'm going to go have a word with her."

I wrinkled my nose, disgusted at the term she'd just used. I turned around to see the two children looking confused and oblivious, clearly having not understood a word she just yelled at them.

"They'd better not get in fistfight," I grumbled as I slowly trudged forward, giving them time to work their issues out…or not.

**BPOV**

"Ah, Jacob. Lovely day, isn't it?" Actually, it was pouring and lightning was striking every three seconds.

Well, it was _my _idea of a lovely day.

"No. No, it isn't. How did I end up in fucking ITALY?"

I smiled pleasantly. "You came to your senses and hopped onboard the airplane right before it took off, and then you passed out from all the running it took to get there…you are the weaker race, after all."

"Thanks. I really appreciate that. And I passed out when you came into the garage and…hey, you drugged me, didn't you?"

"No. I _clubbed _you with my fist. A marginal difference, you know."

"What?"

"I said, it makes a difference."

"No, no, no. You _hit _me?"

"Yes." Wow, dogs really _are _slow.

"That's assault and battery! I can call the police on you!"

I raised an eyebrow, amused at his attempt to corner me. "And then I drain their weak little bodies dry, snap all their bones in half and frame it on you. I can just see it now: _Jacob, you have to learn control before being alone with humans!_"

"Shut up, bitch!" 

"I can give you a mean bitch slap, if you'd prefer that? Because _that's_ where we're headed, dog!"

We went on like this for about another hour, until we reached the house I used to live in. No human could buy it because it was so far out that they would probably never even find it; and there it sat, still in its tiny little rundown glory.

I picked this house specifically because I knew no one would ever _want _to come in it.

I showed them all to their rooms and turned to Edward. "We can share my old bedroom."

He twitched and looked uncomfortable, but agreed nonetheless. Once we were sure that everyone was where he or she were supposed to be, we were off into the night, going to the place that I had hoped to never have to return to again.

And yet outside of the monstrosity I stood, sighing dramatically. "Home, sweet home."

**AN: Again, I'm so sorry about not updating yesterday. Please review if you have the time; they motivate me to write more, you know. ;)**

**Love,**

**Evie**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Enjoy!**

**Chapter Sixteen**

**BPOV**

Things had gone well enough.

Seeing my father for the first time was confusing, annoying and sweet all at the same time: confusing because it was like seeing him for the first time all over again; annoying because he was still delusional enough to think that he was my father; and sweet because…well, I missed him, despite all the bitchy things I said about him. I may not have needed a father figure, but it sure as hell was nice to have one around in situations like these.

I told him about our dilemma and he said he would track them down and kill them. It may have been a little bit drastic, but what difference would it make to the world if they were gone? If anything, it would be an improvement.

Edward, of course, disagreed; we spent at least half an hour trying to get him to shut the hell up. Eventually, he settled for stalking out of the room and waiting outside for me.

"Goodbye, dad." I made no effort to give him a hug or a kiss on the cheek—we weren't the sentimental type.

He smiled. "Farewell, dear. Do come back tomorrow."

"No promises," I muttered as I walked out of the room and found Edward leaning against the wall, looking like he was falling asleep.

"Ready?"

I nodded and exited the castle-like building, with him right behind me. As we walked down the dark street I had the strange sense that someone was watching me. When I turned around, though, there was no one there.

We arrived home much quicker without having to wait up for the werewolves, and found them all sound asleep. I suppose that wasn't very surprising, seeing as it was well past two in the morning.

"Tired?" I asked him.

He drowsily nodded. "Exhausted."

He crawled into the bed and tucked the covers over himself, which was rather unnecessary seeing as we couldn't get cold, and fell asleep almost immediately.

I sighed and headed into the bathroom, taking off my pants and tossing them into the laundry basket that was still situated in the corner of the room. I tossed off my jacket that I wore over my black tank top and headed back into the room, watching him sleep in amusement.

_He really was even _more _beautiful when he slept_, I mused to myself. Most people would think that was impossible; and yet there he was, the undead proof of my statement.

After I had watched him peacefully slumber for a few more minutes, I carefully slipped under the covers next to him and lay on my side, facing away from him. After a couple of seconds I felt his arm cradle around my waist, automatically assuming its position just above my hip.

I looked over to make sure he was still asleep and felt myself quickly slipping into unconsciousness, wondering where Blondie and Old Dreads were at that very moment.

**ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON **

"BELLA!" I heard a child's voice yelling in my ear.

I resisted the urge to smack them against the wall and opened my eyes, my sharp vision beholding none other than Seth Clearwater shaking my shoulders with his massive little hands.

"What?" It was too early in the morning for me to be dealing with this.

He frowned. "Wait a minute; don't vampires sleep during the day?"

Actually, I found it difficult to fall asleep at night most of the time—it wasn't my natural sleeping time. It took years to adapt myself to being awake during the day.

"What do you want, Seth?"

"Oh, right. We're hungry." Oh. I always forget that humans actually need to _eat_.

Edward groaned next to me and held onto me tighter for a minute before rolling over. "Give me five minutes, Seth. I'll get you guys some food."

"Thanks!" Oh, Seth. Always a perky little motherfucker.

"What _time _is it?" I asked him, rubbing my eyes.

He shrugged. "I don't know; seven, maybe?" He got up from the bed and stretched, some of his yummy stomach showing when his shirt rode up. He shook his head and me while I watched him unabashedly.

"No shame."

I grinned. "None."

I pulled the covers back and he slapped a hand over his eyes the second he saw me, acting like he was watching a disgusting horror movie.

"What?" It wasn't like I was naked.

"You're…you're not dressed."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I am, actually."

"No. You're in your undergarments."

Jesus; they weren't even sexy ones. "They're just underwear, Edward. You wear them too, remember?"

He blindly stumbled out of the room as I climbed out of bed and looked through my old closet. I always left clothes lying around, just in case I ever needed to come back. As I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror, I remembered something.

"Oh, my God. I haven't changed my clothes in over five years."

That meant that I hadn't gotten laid in over five years, either, and that was just pathetic.

I went over to my closet and picked out a long-sleeved black shirt with black jeans and slipped on my usual black shoes. What can I say? I liked black; whenever someone asked me why I wore so much of it, I told them it was because it made me look ten pounds skinnier.

That's a true fact, you know.

I made my way out to the kitchen and saw Edward taking orders from all of the children in the living room. I stalked into the kitchen and found Sam and Emily sitting at the table, Sam drinking coffee.

I frowned. "Where'd you get that coffee?"

He looked up from his crossword puzzle in the newspaper to answer me. "The coffee maker."

"But I don't _have _a coffee maker."

He pointed to the counter and, low and behold, there was a large coffee maker sitting there. I stared at it, bewildered, until I saw Leah starting to enter the room. I didn't like that bitch.

"Sorry, Leah. This room is for adults only."

She smiled…but not in a nice way. "I just turned eighteen three months ago."

I shrugged. "You can be on your parent's insurance until your twenty one, so you're not an adult yet."

Emily just _had _to speak up. "But we're not twenty one yet, either."

I rolled my eyes and made room for her to enter grudgingly, and she immediately started firing questions at me.

"You don't look like you're twenty one, either." Oh, please. I've had people tell me that I could pass for twenty-_eight_, you stupid bitch.

"Physically, I'm twenty three. Technically…I'm a lot older than that."

She actually had the nerve to laugh at me. "You old geezer."

I stared at her as she sat down and laughed, and the other two giggled under their breaths.

"Go ahead; laugh. I can hear you trying to hold it in."

I watched them, annoyed, as they all laughed. _Good thing I didn't tell her my age…that would be _so _embarrassing._

"What's so funny?" Edward asked as he walked in the kitchen.

Seeing as they were still laughing, I answered for them, quite sourly. "Leah called me an 'old geezer' and they found that amusing. Haven't you even heard the term, 'respect your elders'?"

Edward started chuckling and I scowled at him. "You're not so young and spry, yourself."

He raised his eyebrows and, without warning, picked me up and set me on the counter…right next to that suspicious coffee machine.

"I may not be young, but I'm still spry, thank you very much." I rolled my eyes and poked at the machine; this thing was annoying the hell out of me.

"Did you buy this?"

He looked at me strangely. "No. I've been with you the whole time."

"But it wasn't _here_ the last time I was!"

He shrugged. "Maybe someone found the house and lived in it for a little while."

No. We both would've picked up on the familiar scent if anyone else were here. The only thing the house smelled like right now was our scent and the dogs'.

As Seth attempted to enter the kitchen, Sam told him to tell everyone else that it was for adults only, which made him angry. All of the sudden, the entire house of children was throwing a fucking hissy fit over not being allowed in one room.

And who was at the center of it all? You guessed it: Jacob. He smiled evilly at me as he began to wail and bang on things for dramatic effect.

It was time to scare them. "Shut the fuck up!"

Not one of them even stopped to listen to me.

I looked back to see what the others were doing, but none of them were even looking at the children; Edward was walking out the door in quest of food.

Stay with children and guard the house or go with Edward and be tormented by his sexiness? Tough call.

"I'll be back in…well, I don't know when. If you fuck up the house, I'll kill you." Sam made a sound to show that he'd heard me and I quickly caught up with Edward, who was walking at a slow pace down the lawn.

"Why are you walking so slowly?"

He shrugged. "I'm taking the scenery in."

I frowned as I looked around; there was nothing but grey and cloudy skies, dead grass and rickety old fences.

"What 'scenery'? There's nothing to look at!"

Instead of answering my question like a normal person would, he asked me one of his own. "Why don't you come to Italy anymore?"

That question made me somewhat uncomfortable. "I got sick of it." That was partially true, at least.

He raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it. "Oh, really? I don't think I could _ever _get tired of it. It's beautiful."

"Well, tell me that after living here for a hundred years and then we'll talk."

All of the sudden, something hit me: in a couple more weeks, I would never see Edward Cullen again. I felt a sharp, unexpected pang in my heart as I realized that; isn't it weird, when you start out thinking that you'll hate someone and then you grow to love them?

I smiled as I thought of his innocence and his quirkiness. These features, once so unattractive to me, were now some of my favorites about the boy walking beside me. For once, I actually had _something_, even if it was only his company, to look forward to when I woke up in the morning…and that meant a lot to me.

So for it all to be taken away, faster than it ever got here…how is that fair? What would I do to entertain myself when Jacob and the wolves died, eighty years ago? Would I just start over again, moving away from the pain I had experienced, only to do it all over again? Could I _really _go back to living like that?

It was strange, just how much three days had changed by perspective on things.

"Hey, Edward?"

"Yeah?"

I put my arm around his middle and rested my head against his shoulder, enjoying the warmth there. "Thanks."

He looked at me strangely. "For what?"

"Nothing…everything."

**ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON **

By the time we had reached home, we had collected cereal of all varieties, breakfast bars, protein shakes, fruit, granola…you name it; we got it. It was quite an odd experience for the two of us, seeing as how we were hardly accustomed to acquiring such items.

As soon as we stepped inside the door, though, everything changed. People were all huddled around, whispering and crying, looking panicked. Emily, being the weakest person there, ran for us right away.

"Edward! Bella! Seth's been kidnapped."

Damn it.

**AN: Do we like it or do we hate it? That is the question. Click the button that says 'review' if you want all your wishes to come true. As always, thanks for reading.**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Enjoy!**

**Chapter Seventeen**

**BPOV**

Annoying child. Bratty companions to annoying child. No "pleases" or "thank you's" for rescuing the annoying child.

None of these factors are motivating me to go after this kid. You wake me up in the morning; I want you dead. And there are _almost _no exceptions to that rule.

"What happened?" I sighed, sitting down on the couch with Edward following the suit.

Emily didn't even stutter when she spoke. She must have been _really _scared. "Well, I told the kids they could go outside and play football for a while, if they wanted to."

If it weren't for her grabbing at her hands, which was a way to tell that she was feeling anxious, I would've informed her that you're not supposed to let anyone go out on their own when you're hiding from someone that wants you dead. Just a rule of thumb, kids.

"Pretty soon, these idiots figured out that they didn't have a football and went inside, leaving poor Seth outside alone…and when they came back, he was gone."

I rolled my eyes. "Geniuses. Okay…Edward and I are going to go look for him, and no one else is coming."

Sam stepped forward. "I'm coming."

Edward stood up and was almost as tall as he was. "No, you're not."

"Yes, I am." Ooh, it looks like a fistfight is about to begin!

It's best to intervene before someone gets fucked up, here. "Sam, do you want to die?"

He looked at me like I was an idiot; sure, _I'm _the stupid one, here. "No."

"Then you need to stay here. Because your wimpy little werewolf ass won't stand a chance against a vampire."

He looked insulted and prepared to protest before Leah smacked him over the back of his head.

"Don't be an idiot, Sam. You've already made one life-altering mistake; there's no need for a second time."

Hurt flashed in their and Emily's eyes, before he shook his head and stepped back. "You'll just never let it go, will you?"

"Never," she spat venomously. She turned to face me and I braced myself. "Can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?"

"You know they can all still hear you, right?"

"Not if we speak quietly."

I knew damned well that Edward would still be able to hear our conversation perfectly, but I was too tired to argue with the bitch. "Fine."

I followed her into the kitchen and sat down across from her, glaring darkly. "What the hell do you want? I have to go babysitting, you know."

"Do you love Edward?"

Can't anyone give me a question that's easy to answer? "Um…. uh…. uh…"

You sound _really _intelligent right now, Bella.

She sighed exasperatedly. "How often do you think about him?"

I shrugged. "More often than not, I suppose."

"Do you find him attractive?"

Seriously? "Um… you'd kind of have to be fucked up in the head _not_ to find him attractive."

"Are you fucking?"

Wait, what? "What does that have to do with whether I'm in love with him or not?"

"Just answer the damned question."

"It's complicated!"

"Like, how?"

"Like, he came to me asking to lie about fucking and then I told him that if we fucked I would go back and tell his family that we did and then they would let him live with them again, and then I tried to get him to fuck me and he wouldn't because he's all innocent and virginal, and then he kind of hit on me…and…. no. We're not fucking."

She held her head in her hands. "Okay: that's a lot of information to process."

"What do you think?" I was desperate to know by now.

She smiled bitterly. "You love him. Hold onto him and never let him go. And don't be a bitch and ruin it."

She stood up and walked back into the room, obviously not caring about what I thought about what she had just told me.

I was in love with Edward Cullen?

**ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE- ANOTHER PERSON**

** EPOV**

"What do you think?" she asked her desperately. My heart (figuratively, of course) stopped cold when I heard Leah ask her if she loved me. And what would I do if she did, anyway?

Bella Swan was the most annoying, rude, self-conscious, strange, honest and beautiful person I had ever met. Over the last few weeks, I had somehow managed to become attached to her sarcastic personality and withering glares. The world wouldn't be the same without her few genuine smiles she gave out, or the way her eyes sparkled when she talked about something she was passionate about, or the way she always managed to find a way to do something when she wanted to.

Pardon my swearing, but: how the fuck was I supposed to live without her?

I realized with chagrin that I had fallen in love with Bella Swan over the short course of a week and a half. I didn't know someone could fall in love that fast; the only thing I knew at that moment was that it had happened.

And, for once in my very long existence, I couldn't possibly be any happier.

Hearing Leah confirm that she felt the same way about me made me smile stupidly, causing several wolves to stare at me strangely.

"What are you smiling about? We just lost a guy!"

My mood didn't phase as I looked over at them; I was on cloud nine. "Can't a guy smile, just…because?"

One of them walked away and the other one stepped closer to me. "Don't you care at all that Seth might be _dead_?"

"Of course, I do! Seth was a kind child. And who knows; he could very well still be alive."

"Fat fucking chance."

His profanity didn't make me cringe like it usually did, and that was when I knew I had to stop being a sap for a couple of hours.

"Okay. I'm going to find Seth and bring him back."

"Dead or alive?" Emily asked timidly.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

Bella was waiting for me at the front of the door, hiding her nerves very well; I knew her too well to fall for it, though.

"What are you staring at?"

"You."

"Why?" Oh, Bella. The way you scowl.

"Because you're beautiful." Oh, damn it. _That's _going to make things awkward.

She looked at me like I was insane and walked ahead of me; probably thinking I had gone over the end of the bend.

"So…where do we start looking?" I asked her after many long minutes filled with uncomfortable silence, neither one of us knowing what to say.

"We'll go to Aro. He'll know what to do."

Somehow I doubted that; but I had learned to trust her, at least to some extent. By the time we had reached the building, I had become slightly more serious.

"What do we do if he doesn't know?"

She looked at me grimly. "No fucking clue."

I followed her into the room and glared at the vampires, not happy to see them.

"Aro. We have a problem."

He didn't look surprised to see us at all; he merely gave us that creepy smile that he gave everyone. Apparently, some people found it endearing. "What can I help you with, my dear?"

She remained silent for a moment before answering. "We've got a missing werewolf."

He smiled slightly. "You mean, like that one in the corner."

She looked horrified as she looked between the corner and her father, making a connection that I refused to make. I didn't allow myself to look behind me because I didn't know what I was going to face, and I had had enough surprises for one day.

"You _stole _our WEREWOLF?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"You know the rules very well, Bella: no werewolves in this part of town."

"They weren't fucking IN this part of town, you moron! I took them way out, far, far away from here."

He shrugged. "It was too close for comfort."

She snorted angrily. "_Right_. Because taking down a pack of werewolves would be _so challenging_."

Uh-oh. When her sarcasm flares up _this _much, you know there's trouble.

I finally found it in myself to turn around and look in that dreaded corner. Seth was against the wall, tied to it by two handcuffs around his wrists that were obviously digging into his skin in a way that would leave marks. His shirt was off and there were cuts all over his body, and they looked deeply infected. He looked miserable as he saw me and looked down, obviously ashamed of the condition he was in.

"What did you _do _to him?" I found myself asking.

"We just…reinforced the rules on him. Physically."

What bothered me the most about him was the way he didn't look at all repentant for what he had done. As he approached Bella, my protective instincts flew up and I spun her body around to face me, pulling her to me.

"_What_?" she asked me, looking at me like I was insane.

"I…just…" He obviously wasn't going to attack her and I didn't want to seem like an idiot, so I said the first thing that was on my mind. And what was on my mind just so happened to be something that would change our lives for forever.

"I love you!"

Her eyes opened as wide as they possibly could and Aro grinned, looking pleased. Before I lost the feeling of sheer idiocy that I was experiencing, I crashed my lips down on hers, having my first kiss that I could actually remember.

What had I just done?

**AN: How's that for a cliffhanger, eh? Reviews are appreciated. New update tomorrow!**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Before we begin, I would like to announce that on July 27, I will be eligible to be a beta reader. I love reading other peoples' stories with a critical eye (basically, to improve), so if you'd like one, feel free to PM me and I'll do it! Also, thanks so much to ****TWIHARDalltheway ****for mentioning me in her story, **_**Arranged Marriage. **_**Go read her story if you've got time and review—it's really awesome! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Eighteen**

**EPOV**

What had I just done?

Bella stepped back from me and looked back to her father, waiting for a reaction: the only thing she got was a knowing smile. She looked torn between slapping me and kissing me again; I guess she chose neither, because she stayed right in place.

"Okay…"

Well, that's not the response I was hoping for… at least she'd said _something_.

"Aro, can we please have our werewolf back?" I felt strangely calm after kissing her, like my life was close to being complete.

He rolled his eyes. "Given the circumstances, I suppose my daughter has enough to worry about without thinking about the useless mongrel. Release him!"

Two huge vampires smashed the shackles with their fingers and shoved Seth forward, causing him to land on his face. His shaking knees wouldn't be able to support his tall and mangy body for much longer, so I put my arm around his midsection and let him lean all of his weight on me.

"Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome, Bella. Edward: it's getting late. Maybe you should go home and get some rest; I'd like to speak with my daughter alone for a minute."

I nodded, annoyed. "Fine. We'll wait outside." I dragged his body next to mine as I walked us down the stairs and out of the building, wondering what they were talking about.

**BPOV**

"Get out," he ordered everyone else that was in the room. There were groans and mumblings of protest as they all stumbled out of the room, presumably to go hunting.

"What do you want?" This had been one of the longest days of my life, with drama from start to finish. And I knew there was more to come when I got home.

He smiled cheerily. "Sit down, dear."

I grumbled as I sat down in the massive chair next to his, eager to get out of this hellhole and hopefully avoid Edward for the next century.

"What do you want? I need to get going, you know."

"Do you love Edward?" One of the things I admired most about him was his bluntness: always straight to the point and direct.

Might as well be honest. "Yeah."

His eyes twinkled. "I knew it. From the second you walked in here, I knew it."

"How?"

"It's the way you look at him, all concerned and caring. I don't think you even realize you're doing it. It's like he's the only person in the world when he's in the room."

What he was saying was true—when Edward walked in the room, he was the _only _person in the room.

"I felt that same way about your mother, you know."

_What. The. Fuck?_

"_Excuse me?"_

He looked surprised. "I thought you knew. Your mother and I were very much in love."

Nope; this was all news to me.

"Wait a minute…you said she had an affair with another man, on the other side of Italy. Are you saying that she cheated on _you_?"

"Of course. Whom else would she have cheated on?"

"I thought you were talking about my dead father!"

He always got touchy when I brought my biological father up. "That bastard didn't deserve either one of you."

I rolled my eyes. "I know that."

"Good. Now, I called you in here to give you a word of advice."

I didn't respond; I just waited.

"Don't let go of Edward. Things will never be the same. You need each other, now."

Okay…that was basically a creepier version of what Leah told me earlier.

I took his advice seriously, though, because Aro was never wrong. "I won't. Thanks, Dad."

He smiled. "And tell Edward that you love him."

A lump formed in my throat. I smiled and waved goodbye as I walked outside, feeling like I was marching down death row.

"What did he have to say?" Edward asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing. Just a word of advice."

**ANOTHER PEROSN INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON **

All of the wolves were excited to see Seth was alive and almost unscathed, of course. In fact, they had a big party in my living room while Edward and I went back to the bedroom silently.

He plopped onto the bed and lay there; staring at the ceiling as I followed the same routine I had done the night before. I crawled in next to him, rolling on my side in an attempt to make things slightly less awkward.

"Um, Bella?" he finally asked.

"Yes?"

"Should I apologize for kissing you earlier?"

Oh, _hell _no. That was the best kiss I had had…. ever.

"No."

"Good."

"I hope Seth will be alright." I was worried about the stupid kid.

"Look at you, all caring for others."

"Shut up. He's just a kid and God knows what they did to him."

His arm had somehow found its way around my waist again—not that I minded, of course.

"Bella?"

"What?"

"Should I apologize for telling you that I love you?"

I rolled over so I could look him in the eyes. "No. Never." And I meant it.

**ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON INSIDE-ANOTHER PERSON**

The next morning I woke up and saw that Edward was out of bed.

Something felt wrong, like something was missing as I groaned, rolled over, stood up and stretched. I walked out of the room and into the kitchen to find Edward sitting with Leah, helping her solve a crossword puzzle. I finally put my finger on the fact that it was almost silent in the house—for the first time in three days, my ears weren't threatening to start bleeding from all of the noise.

"Where is everyone?" I asked as I sat down next to them.

Leah looked far less bitchy than usual. "They went down to some clearing to play football. All of them."

I nodded and stared at the mystery coffee machine in the corner, still mystified.

"Leah?"

"What?"

"Did you buy a coffee table?"

She gave me the 'what the hell are you talking about' look and I knew that I was fucked; I would never know where it came from.

"Why the hell would I buy a coffee maker?"

"Because you like coffee?"

Her nose crinkled in disgust. "Ewe, no. Coffee is bitter and disgusting."

I snorted. "And you call yourself an adult."

She gave me a look as she stood up and stretched, revealing a bit more of her muscle-clad stomach then I wanted to see. She looked like a male body builder with a girl's head when she wasn't wearing her loose shirts.

"Wow. How many planks do you do in a day?"

She looked very offended at that. "It's because of the wolf in me."

I tried not to laugh at her as she stalked out of the room. "I'm going to meet up with them."

"Fine. Try not to get abducted and die, will you?"

"No promises."

Once she was out of the room I relaxed my muscles. "She's such a bitch. Almost as much as I am."

He rolled his eyes. "Neither one of you are bitches. She's not so bad, once you get to know her. And we already know how I feel about you."

I raised an eyebrow; so he wasn't going be subtle, was he? I guess I preferred it that way, in any case.

"Yes, after your little speech yesterday, I'm pretty sure everyone in Italy knows by now."

He grinned. "Good. I can shout it from the rooftop, if you'd like that."

"No. That's alright."

He shrugged. "If you change your mind…"

"You'll be the first one to know."

"Good. Now, let's find something to do, shall we?"

I shook my head. "You go ahead. I'm going to stay here and try to clean things up." I needed some time to myself to sort things out.

He tried to mask his disappointment. "Alright. I shouldn't be out too long."

"Bye."

"Bye." He looked so sad that I decided I might as well give him something to think about while he was gone.

"Oh, and Edward?" I called when he was half way out the door.

"Yes?"

Deep breathes, Bella. "I love you, too."

He smiled and nodded as he shut the door behind him, and I felt much more relieved now the feeling was officially mutual.

Now all I needed were some rags to scrub the floor and a _lot _of Febreeze.

**AN: Loved it? Hated it? Reviews are always appreciated. New chapter up tomorrow!**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: I'm back again! So sorry about the wait, but my great-grandmother's funeral got postponed a day because the stupid delivery people fucked it up (it's a long story). As a result, I'm extremely exhausted, so I apologize if I make any grammatical issues. I'll go back and change them tomorrow when I post the new chapter if I happen to notice any. Enjoy!**

**EPOV**

The next few days were fairly uneventful. I spent most of my time with Bella, who was now officially my girlfriend. It may sound juvenile, but this excited me to no end.

In case you haven't put the pieces together yet, Bella was not what you would call an "affectionate" or "sentimental" person, so there wasn't a whole lot of physical things going on, which was fine with me; I was still getting used to loving besides a family member. I would kiss her on the cheek at bedtime and hold her while we slept, but that was about it.

Of course, she still wanted to have sex.

"Edward?"

"Yes, love?" I had taken to calling her that and she seemed to like it, so it stuck.

"Fuck me."

I rolled my eyes and snapped the book shut, rolling over onto my side so I could look her in the eyes. It was long past all of the dogs' bedtime and we were lying in bed, enjoying each other's company.

"Marry me."

That was my condition: she wanted to have sex, I wanted to get married. Therefore, if she married me, we could have all the sex she wanted. Not to mention all of the sex that I had wanted, and that would be a _lot_. Now that I had been having so many dirty thoughts in my head, I didn't feel quite so bad about it.

"No."

I smiled. "Then, no."

She huffed as she let her head hit the pillow before she got a devious glint in her eye. "Fine: if you won't do it on your own, I guess I'll just have to help you."

Oh, no. I hoped I wouldn't have to get physical with her again. The other night, she had tried to reach for…well, an area that her hand shouldn't have been, and I ended up holding her entire body above me, giving her hands nothing to grasp but air, for probably five minutes before she calmed down and fell asleep.

"Bella. Don't make me pin you down again."

"I'd like that."

"Bella!"

"Yes?"

"Stop that. You're going to make me do something that I'll regret in the morning!"

Her eyes widened. "Are you going to jizz?"

Oh, great. Another term I would have to ask Jacob about later. "I don't know what that means, but I'm probably not going to do it. Now, can you please try to behave?"

"No. I don't think so."

Before I could stop her, she plopped down on top of me and held my wrists above my head with her tiny little hands. Of course, this movement wasn't actually keeping me from going anywhere; we both knew that I could break her hold without any effort. The point was to let her take control, which I couldn't afford to do. It would be the end of me.

"Bella, no."

She giggled. "Why? I'm just making myself comfortable."

"Well, you're making me very _uncomfortable_."

She grinned. "I can help you with that." Her hand slithered down my stomach and I broke her hold to stop her just in time. I grabbed her little hands and place them above her head, keeping a firm but gentle hold on her.

"Please, _please _do not make me do this all night. I'm tired."

"The last time I checked, it was the wife that's supposed to say that."

"Well, it is the twenty first century, after all." That meant a lot more to us then it did to all you human children that are reading this story. Things had changed so much from century to century…it was mind boggling, how much humans were desperate for a change.

"That it is."

I stared at her for a moment, not even realizing that I had loosened my hold on her until it was too late: she jumped on me, pushing me back onto my back and straddling me.

"Bella, get off of me."

"No."

"Please?"

"No. You're my prisoner, now."

Don't tell me that, Bella. You have _no _idea of what could come from it.

"No."

After much more arguing, we ended up rolling around on the bed, more or less making out. Her lips were soft but firm, and her mouth tasted like candy would taste to a human on my tongue. My hand somehow found itself winding its way up to her breasts, ignoring my brain, which was telling my hands that this was _most _inappropriate. Of course, she didn't seem to mind.

"Oh, my God!"

"That's disgusting!"

Bella rolled off of me to glare at Emily and Seth in annoyance.

"What the hell do you want? Can't you see that we're in the middle of something?"

Emily still looked disgusted. "Sorry. We couldn't fall asleep and heard a low noise, so we thought we'd make sure that everything way alright."

Damn it. The low noise must have been coming from _my _mouth… ugh, that was embarrassing.

Bella wasn't looking very pleased. "Well, as you can see, we're just fine. So if you could…" She pointed towards the door with her hand and Emily was sensible enough to exit it, but Seth got even closer.

Before we could stop him, he had jumped onto the bed, right between us. Bella looked stricken and horrified, while I was slightly amused but not particularly happy to be sitting next to a werewolf, myself.

"Seth, get out. Now!" Well, Bella obviously wasn't a kid's person. I wasn't very fond of them, either, so that wouldn't be a problem.

Instead, he burrowed his body into mine, making me cringe away form him. "Please, Seth… this is inappropriate."

"My Mom isn't here to talk to me until I fall asleep."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Fine. I was born in…never mind. My father left when I was a little baby and my mother blamed me for it. The rest of my life was filled was a deep pit of despair, sending me spiraling downwards. And then I plunged a knife through my heart, blood went spurting everywhere, Aro dug into my neck and I became a vampire. How's that for a bedtime story?"

I stared, horrified, at her as she continued to babble on in a matter-of-fact tone, including some macabre details that really weren't for children's ears.

"You tried to kill yourself?" I couldn't get my mind around it; I guess I owed my entire life to Aro. If it weren't for him, I never would've met my Bella.

She shrugged. "I was done."

"Remind me to thank Aro the next time I see him."

She shot me a very strange look that I couldn't read before turning back to Seth, not responding. Seth had obviously tuned her out because he seemed just as happy as always.

"Seth?" She tried again, but he wasn't answering.

"Let's go for a walk," he finally said.

"What? It's too late to go for a walk. You need to go to bed."

I was surprised by how motherly she sounded when she said that. Obviously, Bella wouldn't have opted for children even if she were capable of conceiving them; I couldn't even imagine her being a parent, although I was sure that she would be more than capable of it.

Bella was capable of _anything_.

"No."

She sighed. "You know what? Fine. Let's go on a fucking walk."

I looked at her like she was insane before reaching for my tennis shoes, figuring my socks wouldn't want to get holes in them. She held up her hand to me and yanked Seth off the bed.

"Edward, you look tired. Just stay here, okay?"

Was she _serious?_

**BPOV**

"Bella, I don't know if you remember, but we're here because we're hiding out from people. Not because we want them to find us."

"Edward, just stay here. We're going on a walk, not on a hike across the country. We'll be _fine_."

In a flash, he was standing before me, motioning for Seth to wait at the door. He took my hands in his and smiled lightly at me, showing me that he trusted me without using any words.

"Be careful, okay?"

"Okay." He pressed his lips against my forehead and then he was back on the bed again, like he had never been right in front of me.

"Let's go."

Leah walked down the stairs just as we were leaving and stated that she needed some fresh air. I didn't have too much of an objection to her joining us, so I reluctantly allowed her to.

She started bitching almost immediately. "Why is it so fucking dark here?"

Wow. "Because it's _night time_?"

She huffed. "Well, back in Forks, there are lights and such to help with viewing the sights."

"What sights are there to view? It's all trees and dirt! That's very attractive to the tourists; because we get so many of those."

"Hey! People come on business trips to Forks!" Seth piped up.

"You don't even live in Forks, Seth. Why are you defending it?"

"Because it's my land to protect."

I raised my eyebrow at that, because we were _definitely _going to need to sit down and talk with the wolves if they thought they had a right to stake a claim on _our _territory. That's not how it worked; first come, first serve. And since we had a couple centuries on them that made their territory ours, in technicality, too.

"Where are we going?" Leah asked.

"Why? Are you little dogs legs going to give out on you?"

"I'll punch your lights out, bitch!"

I snorted. "Believe me: you won't."

Over here in Italy, vampires learned how to fight and defend for themselves the moment they began their second life. Things got much more vicious here than in Italy as a result of it; Aro would never change the rules, though. That's not how he rolled.

"So… are you and Edward, like, a couple now?" Great; Seth's asking for girl talk.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah."

Leah intervened. "Don't fuck it up… nothing good can come from it."

"Such wise advice."

"Actually, it is."

The world froze around me as I heard a low and ugly voice growl out those words. I closed my eyes and let my protective instincts take over, hopping in front of the wolves, but still not looking at two of the people I'd hoped to never see again.

Of course, I knew the thought of hiding out here forever was unrealistic, but it was the only comforting thought I had at this point.

Time to bring on the sarcasm. "Looks like we've got company."

And we had better set to extra dinner plates for Blondie and Old Dreads.

**AN: Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to review; I really appreciate any feedback I get. New update tomorrow. I'm going to go to sleep, now. ;)**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to review! Enjoy.**

** Chapter Twenty**

**BPOV**

I turned around to face them, plastering on a fake smile.

"Howdy."

Wow. Maybe I _wanted _to die… howdy?

"Hello." James had a weird and creepy smile on his face as he approached me slowly. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with him on top of me and his teeth were buried in my shoulder. I could hear Leah and Seth screaming as he slowly started sucking the blood out of me, draining all of my energy.

I slapped; I kicked; I punched. It was all useless, I realized as things were starting to get blurry.

I'm sure everyone else that was there could tell you what happened in more description than I did. Everything was confusing and jumbled to me, like watching a movie that didn't make any sense: one second, Blondie was literally sucking my life out of me, and the next second his head was being ripped off.

I struggled to keep my disoriented eyes focused on the all-too familiar man with black hair as he destroyed the two predators that had been making my after life a living hell for the last week.

"Felix?" his name didn't sound right coming out of my mouth anymore. I felt sick at the prospect of saying it.

He turned around to face me, looking both concerned and sheepish at the same time. "Hello, Bella."

Well, _this _was a surprise. I cringed away from him out of reflex, my body recognizing the fact that he would hit me if he got angry. I felt myself becoming hotheaded and furious, no longer the innocent little girl I was so long ago.

"I fucking hate you!" That may not have been the most appropriate choice of wording, but it was true, nonetheless.

"You have every right to."

I may have been slowly dying, but I was still awake enough to get my bitch on. "What are you doing here? Couldn't find anyone else to con into fucking? Does Heidi know this time?"

I did that on purpose, knowing that it would hit a nerve.

His eyes darkened, but not in an angry way. "Heidi ended it with me a long time ago; you already knew that."

"You deserved it, you prick! You didn't deserve her!" Well… Heidi _was _a whore, and he probably _did _deserve her, but what I was saying made sense at the time.

"I know that." Even though he looked wounded, he was obviously being honest. I knew the art of deception all too well, and even more so with him in particular.

My head was spinning and I was losing my edge. I didn't want to be even remotely vulnerable in front of him of all people, but I wasn't going to last a whole hell of a lot longer. "Why'd you do it?"

I was ashamed as I heard my voice: it was small, quiet and scared. The exact opposite of what I needed to be.

His eyes looked sad as he stared at me. "I'm sorry. I'm _so sorry _for everything that I did; I don't have an excuse for it, because there isn't a big enough one in the world."

I rolled my eyes. "You've got that right."

Despite everything he had done, he still looked sincere. "I'm such an ass."

"Is this going somewhere? You're only telling me things that I already know. And I'd like to die in peace, thank you very much."

I could vaguely hear the two werewolves wailing away in the background, assuming that they would never see me again.

He had the nerve to laugh. "Die? You're not going to die."

In a flash, he was kneeling next to me and had his bloody wrist in my face. I stared at it reluctantly, not wanting to drink the blood from the man that had betrayed me. However, my body was winning the battle against my brain. Drink the blood or die?

I guess I decided to drink the blood… and then there was nothing.

**EPOV**

I had the feeling that something was wrong as I went to sleep that night, but I was too exhausted to do anything about it. I pulled out the postcards I had been sending to my family for the last week and quickly scribbled something down, telling them that Bella had improved even more today.

I had been keeping these from Bella because I didn't want her to know what I was writing on them; and also because I didn't want her to think that I was weak.

Where I came from, the man was the strong half of the relationship and the woman was the weaker half. With Bella, it was the exact opposite… and, to be honest, it was kind of humiliating to me. Knowing that she was more headstrong, stubborn and generally less weak than me would've been my worst nightmare a hundred years ago.

Now, however, I was starting to see things in a different light: why couldn't the woman be in charge of things, for a change? Bella's not what you'd call "trustworthy", as a rule of thumb; I'd trust her with my life (no pun intended), though. I'd already trusted her with my heart.

I smiled as I bit down on the pen I had written the letter with, reading it over to myself:

_Dear Esme,_

_Bella's gotten even better today. She's slowly warming up to the kids and she's smiling more. She obviously doesn't notice (she wouldn't do it if she could help it), but I have; she's been happier, lately. Not to sound like I'm bragging, but I think it's because we're official. _

_I could actually see her being a mother, Esme! Can you _believe _that? She took Seth on a walk and didn't stop Leah from coming along. They're out doing that very thing while I'm writing this, but hopefully she'll be back soon. I just wanted you to know that you'll love her almost as much as I do, Mom. She's perfect in every aspect for me. _

_How's Carlisle? I may not be speaking to the rest of the family but you know that I wish you all well. I miss you and hope to see you soon. I love you._

_Your son,_

_Edward_

I smiled even wider as I read the letter over and over again, figuring that I had written an appropriate amount for a postcard. She hadn't responded, mostly because I hadn't put an address on the envelope, but I knew she was reading them.

I went to sleep that night feeling like I was actually getting somewhere with my life.

**BPOV**

Dust. Bright light. A musty scent that lingered in the unclear air.

These were the first things my foggy brain registered as I groaned, rolling over onto an unfamiliar couch and clutching the back of my throbbing head. For a moment, I panicked and feared that everything about Edward and the dogs was just a dream, and that I was waking up from another one-night stand with a man I would never even see again.

_Even _you're _not that creative, Bella,_ I reminded myself. I flipped myself over with much effort and blinked in a lame effort to stop my eyes from being so irritated. My sharp vision looked around the small room and saw a wooden floor, a mirror that reflected a picture of myself—ugh, I looked like _hell_—and a worried looking Felix.

Wait… _what?_

I jumped up off of the couch, fighting the warm and fuzzy blanket that had been carefully placed around me as I slept, and stared at my perpetual hero.

"Oh, great. It _is_ you."

He chuckled lightly. "Oh, good. I was afraid that you'd wake up and forget that you hated me. We couldn't have that, now could we?"

"No, we couldn't." My voice sounded cold and distant, which was just the way I wanted it.

He looked amazed. "You really _have _changed. I like the new you."

Ouch; that stung a bit. "Oh, so you didn't like the old me?"

He groaned. "I see you're more defensive, too. What I did was idiotic and unexplainable. _I _don't even know what came over me."

"Well, let me know if you ever find out."

His eyes looked tired and ancient. "Bella, you're not the only one that had to go through things. Heidi had to deal with divorcing me, and I had to deal with losing both of you."

Oh, please. "You never _had _me. And you conveniently forgot to mention the fact that you were _married._"

That is, if the douche bag _remembered _that he was married.

"What can I say? I'm an idiot?"

"We already _know _that you're an idiot!"

He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I wish I could go back in time to change things, but I can't. And I'll always regret what I did, because it was the biggest mistake I ever made."

I looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes. "How did you know that I was being attacked?" This thought had occurred to me when I was unconscious.

He looked very sheepish. "Well… you see, I've been following you around for the last two hundred years."

If I had water in my mouth, I would've spit it out for dramatic effect. "What. The. Hell? You've been _following _me? That makes you a stalker, Felix!"

"And who are you going to call? The vampire police?"

I raised my eyebrow. "In case you've forgotten, my father is the most powerful vampire in history."

"Bella, I haven't been doing anything weird. I've just been watching over you to make sure that nothing ever happened to you. I couldn't live with myself if I had to watch you go through any more pain.

"Deep down, I'll always love you. Not in a romantic kind of way. I just want you to be happy, and I can see that you are with Edward."

An intense wave of emotion rolled over me when he said that. Even though he had put me through so much, he had put himself through even more, and it still meant a lot to me to know that he still cared. I struggled not to cry as I gave him a watery smile.

"Thanks."

He put his big arms around me and gave me a hug that was more comforting than any words he could've said. As I sighed heavily, I knew that this was the final closure that I had needed all along. He kissed the top of my head and released me, stepping back.

"You should probably be getting home. Edward will be getting worried."

I nodded. "Sure. Just promise me one thing."

He cocked his head to the side.

"Stop following me. Get your life back, dude. Go find Heidi and apologize and make her swoon—you always were good at that, you know."

He smiled sadly. "I'll always check in on you, sometimes. Just to make sure that you're okay. And I think Heidi's better off without me, to be honest."

I mock-punched him in the shoulder, knowing that I would miss him. "Whatever you say."

His eyes were smiling almost as largely as his mouth was. "Goodbye, Bella."

"Bye, Felix."

I walked out of that house feeling bright and sunny, knowing that all of that emotional baggage was gone for good. I was healed.

**Another Person Inside- Another Person Inside- Another Person Inside**

The dogs were outside on the lawn when I got home, looking happier than even to see me.

"Bella! We thought you were dead!"

"Sorry to disappoint you."

I got several pats on the back as I walked past them, which was uncomfortable and sweet at the same time. I found Edward still sound asleep on the bed, with something in his hand, and a smile on his face.

I gave him a light kiss on the forehead and climbed in next to him, feeling content in his arms. I spoke quietly so I wouldn't wake him as I said the words that I had been waiting to say ever since we got to Italy.

"We're going home."

**AN: I announce that there will be two more chapters in this story. It's sad to know that we're at the end but I had always intended for this to be a small little story, and that's what it's turned out to be. Please review if you've got the time. New update either tomorrow or the day after. :)**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to review! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**BPOV**

The next morning was full of laughing, chaos and goodbyes.

I woke up to find Edward poking at my neck, and I felt a sharp pain there.

"What are you doing?" I slapped his hand away and he went right back to prodding, making the pain even worse. "Stop it!"

"What _happened_?" I awkwardly titled my head until I could see Blondie's bite mark on my neck, looking blue and nasty, like some kind of spider bit me.

Let's get this over with. "Oh. That. Well, Blondie and Old Dreads found me and tried to kill me, but then Felix came along and saved the day. So now they're dead and we can go back to Italy."

He blinked several times, trying to absorb the information. "Who's Felix?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's a long story that I'd rather not get into." He would only hunt him down and rip his head off, anyway.

"So… we're leaving?"

"I'm hungry!" I heard Seth wail from upstairs. I snorted and said to myself, _what the hell, you're already turning into a soft and mushy hopeless romantic, _and figured I could brush up on my cooking skills. Now, back to the question at hand.

"Yep. Now, I've got to go make some pancakes."

He looked up, finally reacting. "_You're _going to make _pancakes_? You must be in a good mood… hey, we're leaving! I can see my family again!"

The way his eyes lit up made me smile immediately and forget about everything else in the world. On the inside, I really didn't even care anymore that the edgy, sarcastic side of me had slowly disintegrated without my noticing. I was turning out to be… nice. I'll never be as nice as Edward is, but I'm not the same bitch I used to be.

It wasn't like people liked me before, anyway.

He hopped out of bed, the bite on my neck long forgotten, and swung me around in his arms like I was a ragdoll. I couldn't help but chuckle at his joy as he took us to the kitchen, sitting down on his lap once we reached the table. I never did make those pancakes, but I don't think the dogs cared, besides some minor bitching from Leah. You can expect that from her, anyway.

"Everyone," I called out. "I have an announcement."

"We get to go into the adults only room!" I heard several children shout. Rolling my eyes, I impatiently (let's face it: that's never going to change) waited for them all to file into the kitchen in one big, furry heap and spoke.

"So, as well all know, we've been here because Blondie and Old Dreads went psycho when they found out that their wife had died." Well, Blondie's wife, as far as I knew. Some people shared better than others.

"Last night, Blondie and Old Dreads died. And guess what that means?"

They all looked so shocked that no one bothered to guess what they were all hoping.

"That's right: we're leaving!"

There was a lot of cheering and laughing going on, the high-fives that were being passed around giving me a headache from the smell.

Everyone reacted except for Leah. "I want food," she moaned.

"Why don't you go to Pet Smart? I'm sure they've got your favorite kibble."

I looked back out at them and smiled, not letting Leah bring me down. They all looked shocked to see anything on my face besides a scowl, and I showed my teeth to give the menacing effect.

I hadn't changed completely, after all.

She gave me a dirty look and stalked out of the room, leaving a trail of stench in case we needed to find her. I smiled and looked up at Edward's flawless face, realizing that I wasn't going to miss this place at all.

I would miss the memories, though.

**Another Person Inside- Another Person Inside- Another Person Inside**

"I know, I know, Aro. I'll be safe. I promise."

I was standing in the building for probably the last time, rolling my eyes as he rambled on and on about all of the precautions I should take to get home.

"And make sure that you wear something that will break your fall if, for some reason, the plane crashes unexpectedly."

"I'm a vampire. It wouldn't hurt if I fell." I would've thought that would be fairly obvious to someone of my same kin.

He sighed. "Just be careful, Bella. I don't want anything to happen to my only daughter."

I smiled slightly and didn't bother correcting him. "I will, Dad. I have to go."

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too." I was surprised to find that I wasn't lying when I said that. I really would miss my father.

"I…I love you, Bella."

Well, that tore at my heartstrings. "I love you, too, Dad. Goodbye."

He nodded and walked back to his chair, looking as powerful as always. I had one more thing to do, though, before I could leave this part of my life behind for forever.

"Aro? I have one more thing to ask of you, if I may?"

He nodded, waiting. "Anything."

I smiled. "Get Heidi to give Felix another chance. He meant well."

He grimaced, but then his face smoothed out. "I'll… do what I can. I can't make any promises, though."

"Thanks."

I blew him an air-kiss, something I hadn't done…well, ever, and walked out of the house/castle to find Edward waiting for me.

"Ready, Love?"

I nodded and we walked hand in hand back to my old house, where the wolves were still eating their breakfasts. I took my time walking around the house, reliving some old memories that I had, and taking things with me that I knew I would want in Forks.

Who would've known that I would miss Italy so much?

I made my way to the bedroom and sat down on the bed, smiling sadly. This room was the first place Edward and I had ever lived together in, and it felt like I was leaving behind an important part of me. I looked over to the bedside table and saw something… a small piece of paper with Edward's handwriting on it. Curiously, I made my way over to the bed and was just about to pick it up when Edward burst through the door, looking anxious.

"Um, hello."

I nodded. "What's this?"

He looked sheepish now, and I knew something was up. "Please don't read that."

His voice sounded small all of the sudden, like he was ashamed of the piece of paper. My eyebrows lifted. "Why not?"

"Because it's personal."

I shrugged. "Okay. I can learn not to be a nosy bitch."

Actually, I knew for a fact that I could _never _change from being a nosy bitch, but I didn't feel the need to share that with him. He walked around me and shoved it in his pocket, grinning.

"Thank you. And I don't mind you being a nosy bitch… it's part of who you are."

Wait a minute… did Edward just say, "bitch"? I hopped off the bed and squealed; feeling like my life was complete. He stared at me, confused, and walked out of the room.

I laughed and looked around the room, not feeling quite so sad anymore. Edward seemed to have that effect on me.

I sat in the living room and talked with the dogs about stupid things for a while and Jacob and I bitched at each other, which had always been our best way of bonding.

"I can see your roots."

I knew for a fact that he couldn't see my roots. "Well, at least I don't have to reapply deodorant every ten minutes!"

He pouted at me while I stepped into the kitchen, picking up on a familiar scent. I looked around to see that the mysterious coffee maker that had been giving me hell for the past week was gone, replaced with a note. I felt a slight amount of annoyance that I would never know where it came from, exactly, but mostly I was just happy that I would never have to look at the horrendous contraption again.

I couldn't figure out the handwriting on the note. All it said was, "Sorry".

**Felix POV**

Ha. She never did figure out that I put that coffee machine there… It's probably for the best.

**BPOV**

Edward had everything we were taking in his arms, because, as usual, he refused to let me carry anything. What else is new?

"Just let me carry _something_?" I begged him.

He smirked. "No."

The world was finally sane again as I scowled.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful…until we reached the ground. For once, it actually felt nice to be back in Forks, Washington.

It felt like home.

Things got _very _eventful after that, though. We dropped the wolves off at home and checked in with Charlie, letting him know that we were okay.

"Where _were _you?" he exploded as we walked in.

We smiled knowingly. "We took a little road trip. I hope it didn't cause too much of a fuss."

He scowled. "It caused a bit more than a 'fuss'. I had police out everywhere looking for you!"

Not everywhere, Charlie.

Edward stepped in before things could get ugly. "We're sorry, Chief Swan. Things got a little bit out of hand. It'll never happen again."

His face softened up a little bit. "Fine. I guess I'm just glad you kids are okay."

I smiled as he gave us each a pat on the back. "Now, get out of here."

We left knowing that everything would be al right and went back to where it all started: the tree. I guess at this stage in the relationship, it would be okay to share it.

"Hey, Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?"

I took a deep breath. "We can share my tree."

He gave me a smile and a wink. "Thank you."

We sat back against it and I noticed that his shoulders had tensed up a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing." His voice sounded off and very, very nervous; it was high and squeaky, as opposed to his usual low and smooth voice.

"Just tell me." He was making _me _nervous, now.

He breathed in deeply before standing up. "Damn it! This wasn't how it was supposed to go…"

I raised an eyebrow. "How _what _was supposed to go?"

"Will you marry me?" he blurted out, looking like he was going to pass out.

I stared at him in shock, my mouth hanging wide open. "Repeat?"

He closed his eyes. "Bella… I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you please marry me?"

I crinkled my nose. On one hand, I wanted to marry him… I really did. On the other hand… who knows what could happen? I decided that it was time to finally take a leap of faith.

"Yes, Edward. I would fucking _love _to marry you."

He grinned widely and kissed me, picking me up off of the ground. What he said next was far worse than ever getting married, though…

"Now, all we have to do is go meet the family."

Oh, fuck.

**AN: The next chapter is the last. :( Please take the time to review, if you can. :) New update tomorrow!**

**Love,**

**Evangeline**


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to review. Here it is… the final chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

**BPOV**

Family… it didn't really do a whole lot for me. As you know, I didn't exactly have a perfect one growing up, so the idea of meeting Edward's… well, it creeped me the fucked out.

"Family…"

His eyes did that cute little thing where they lit up and I looked down, trying to break this to him easily. "Um… _no_."

He stared at me, confused. "No?"

"No."

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

How long would it take us to get on the same page, here? "Family isn't really my thing, Edward. You know that."

He sighed. "Yes, I know, but we're engaged. I'd like to let my family get to know my future wife."

Why did he have to be so damned traditional? "Bella Cullen… that has a ring to it."

He smiled slightly, still not dropping the subject. "Please, Bella?"

I sighed. "Would it make you happy?" That was all that mattered to me, in the end.

"Yes."

I groaned. "Okay…"

**Another Person Inside- Another Person Inside- Another Person Inside**

Fifteen minutes later, we were standing outside of the Cullen house and I was trying to coax my body into not throwing up. My hands were tapping on my knees impatiently and my whole body was shaking.

"Calm down," he said, taking my hand.

I glared back at him and concentrated on plastering a fake smile on my face. Slowly, his hand reached up to ring the doorbell and I resisted the urge to slap his hand away and run for the hills… metaphorically speaking, seeing as we were back in Forks and the only thing we had here were those fucking _trees_.

I really hated those trees.

The door swung open to reveal a shocked Esme, grinning like a maniac.

"Edward! What are you _doing _here?"

He looked happier than I had ever seen him when he saw his mother. He gave her a gentle hug, chuckling. "I missed you, Mom."

She looked over at me. "Bella! Lovely to see you again, dear."

The way she looked at me, so knowingly, freaked me out. "Nice to see you, too, Mrs. Cullen."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Please, call me Esme."

I smiled slightly, hoping that she wasn't going to make us come inside.

"Please, come inside!" Damn it.

Edward literally dragged me through the doorway, passing it off as casually draping his arm around my waist. He shot me a look that said, "please try to behave" and held me even closer to him as we came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the living room, where all of the vampires had been sitting, staring at us and unmoving.

Damn. This even creepier than I thought it would be.

Emmett, the big one that looked like he had swallowed too many steroids, grinned. "So, did you screw her? Because the rules haven't changed."

The entire family started yelling at her while I resisted the urge to laugh; maybe Emmett was alright. Edward stepped away from me for a minute to hand Esme the piece of paper he had asked me not to read, making it even _more _mysterious.

Carlisle, the father figure, stepped up from the chair he was sitting in. "Bella. Nice to see you again."

I nodded and gave a polite response, only just noticing that there was one vampire missing when she came running down the stairs, squealing. I resisted the urge to groan as she threw her arms around me and picked me up, which was very awkward, because she was a good four inches shorter than me.

"Congratulations!" she shouted in my ear, causing me to cringe out of reflex.

"Um… thank you?"

She playfully hit me on the shoulder before releasing me and turning to Edward, attacking him. I was felt uncomfortable just watching the way she attacked him… it was bordering on porn-like.

I didn't know this family had _that _kind of relationship…

Edward looked at me strangely, because apparently I was making a strange face. Alice released her tight hold on him and came to stand very close to me… a little bit closer than I was comfortable with.

"Am I the ONLY person in this house that's noticed?"

I still didn't have a fucking _clue _as to what she was talking about. She grabbed my hand roughly and shoved it in everyone's faces, earning multiple gasps like we were in some kind of melodramatic television program.

"_What _is going on?" Emmett and I asked at the same time. His booming laugh sent vibrations throughout the room, causing Edward to roll his eyes.

"Well, Emmett, _you _haven't changed a bit. Alice, you haven't, either. And she's referring to the fact that Bella and I are officially engaged."

Esme threw her arms around me happily. "You're marrying my son? This is the happiest day of my entire life!"

It felt strange to have someone wanting to be my motherly figure; not in a bad way. Just strange.

"Carlisle, are you going to take that?" Emmett asked, causing me to burst out in an inappropriate laughter.

Carlisle glared at him. "Emmett! Shut up. Your mother's happy for the first time in weeks and you expect me to be _angry_?"

Emmett just smiled at him deviously. "Sorry, pops."

Before I knew what was happening, I was in the center of a massive group hug, with smiling vampires all around me. I felt… comfortable. I would've expected to feel claustrophobic and weird, but I didn't at all.

Eventually, we all separated and everyone returned to his or her designated sitting areas. I grinned at all of them, surprised at how normal I felt around all of these strangers. Oddly enough, they already felt like my family.

We sat around and talked for a little while, getting to know each other. Emmett and I got along really well, and Rosalie hated me, which amused me. Alice was annoying but fun to be around at the same time, and Jasper was soft-spoken and polite but had a quirky personality, just the same. Carlisle and Esme instantly loved me, just like Edward had reassured me that they would. _They'd love you even if you had webbed feet and a horn on your head,_ he'd said; now that I'd met them, I could understand what he was saying. The only thing they cared about was that I made Edward happy, which, according to him, I did.

It took some time to explain the whole story to them (well, we left out the parts about the sex, because that would've been inappropriate to talk about), but we filled them in on everything.

"You were in Italy?"

"We looked everywhere for you!"

Not everywhere, people. Not everywhere.

"Aro says hello." Actually, he didn't, but I was trying to make him look good; he _was _my father, after all.

Carlisle smiled. "You know Aro?"

That's an understatement. "He's my father."

We talked about how awesome he was for a while and Edward stood up, pulling me with him.

"We actually need to go do something. We'll be back before dinner time."

They nodded and went back to whatever it was that they had been doing before, leaving us to do one final thing.

"Where are you going?" Esme asked.

I shrugged as Edward pulled me out the door, ignoring her question.

"Thanks for having me!" I shouted over my shoulder.

"Don't thank us, sweetheart. You're a member of the family, now."

I smiled and attempted to wave, but the way Edward was holding me made it kind of difficult.

"Where _are _we going?" I asked once we were out of hearing distance.

"To see the dogs." I didn't bother questioning him because I didn't really care why we were going; it was a good day.

We quickly made our way over to the other side of town and knocked on that ugly door, waiting for Sam to come on and let us in.

"Come in," Emily called out.

We walked into the kitchen, and I smiled at the muffin marks that were still on the floor.

"Hey; it gives the house personality."

I smiled at her. "That it does."

"What are you guys doing here?" Sam asked as he walked into the kitchen with another one of his jumbo-muffins that he was always eating.

Edward shrugged. "We just thought that we would drop by to make sure that everyone was doing okay. And we happen to have an announcement."

"Well, let's hear it."

"We're getting married."

He smiled, not looking one bit surprised. "Congratulations!"

"Aren't you surprised?"

He laughed. "No. You two are meant to be together. You'd have to be an idiot to not see that."

I got a warm and fuzzy feeling in my stomach when he said that. "Thanks, Sam. Edward; why don't you stay here and talk to them? I'm going to go see Jacob."

"He's asleep."

"Okay."

I gave Edward a light kiss and then went to go find a very much asleep Jacob, curled up in his bed—which was in the garage, by the way—and looking kind of bitchy and peaceful at the same time.

I probably had the same expression on my face when I was asleep.

"Jacob!" I yelled in an attempt to wake him from his slumber.

"Jacob! Jacob!" I jumped onto the bed and slapped him semi-gently, causing the beast to awake and growl at me.

"What?"

"Um…. Oh. I don't have much to say."

"Then _get out_!" Wow… he was a happy camper.

"I'm not ready to let you go back to hibernating quite yet."

He tried to knock me off the bed, but all he got out of that was a neck cramp, because he lost his pillow in the process.

"Well, speak."

I smiled. "Edward and I are getting married."

"I knew it."

He rolled over to look at me, not seeming surprised, either.

"Is no one surprised at this?"

He shrugged sleepily. "Leah might be; she's sure that first love fails for everyone."

"I tend to agree with that statement."

"Don't tell Edward that."

"I won't."

"Did you need something?"

Ugh. Do I _really _have to do this? "I'm… sorry that I knocked you out and forced you to come across the world with me. You know it was for your own good, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah… whatever. I'm over it. Now get out of my room, bitch!"

I smiled fondly and ran out of the room, not shutting the garage door behind me.

"Goodbye, Jacob."

He was already asleep.

I found Edward playing checkers with Sam in the living room.

"Time to go."

I nodded and got up, thanking Sam and saying goodbye. Emily surprised me by giving me a tight hug, burying her face in my chest.

"Um… are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just afraid I'll never see you again!"

I laughed. "Trust me: you'll be seeing a _lot _of us. I'm not done bitching with Jacob and Leah yet."

She giggled quietly and waved goodbye as we left, heading back home.

"Are we going to be going there a lot, or did you just say that to make her feel better?"

I gave him a disbelieving look. "Since when do I _ever _say things to make people feel better?"

He shrugged. "Well, you _do _tend to tell it like it is. That's one of my favorite things about you, you know."

I raised an eyebrow. "That I'm a bitch?"

He rolled his eyes. "No; I like that you're _honest._"

I winked at him. "I promise to be honest, then."

We walked, hand in hand, back to the house.

"Welcome back," Emmett greeted us loudly, grabbing me into a big hug. It was a damned good thing that I didn't need to breath…

"Emmett! Lower your voice. And please let go of my future wife before you crush her to pieces, if you would be so kind." Both of their voices were muffled in my ears because of the massive amounts of muscle my head was somewhere buried in.

"Fine, Edweiner." I thought _I _came up with that nickname… "What's got your panties in a knot?"

"Release her!"

He laughed boisterously and dropped me gently, and Edward immediately put his arm around me possessively. I stared at him, amused, as he started arguing with his younger and larger brother.

"Have you screwed, yet? Is that what you went to do?"

Edward growled and jumped at him, and Emmett laughed joyfully, joining in on the fun. I observed that it was similar to a wrestling match, except for they were much better looking, much stronger and this was complete and utter chaos.

"Boys!" Esme shouted as she walked outside, finding them in a tangled heap on the ground. "What are you doing? Stop that!"

She turned to face me. "I'm so sorry, dear; I'm afraid this comes with territory."

I smirked slightly. "Fear not, Esme; this isn't anything new."

She shook her head and smiled sadly, turning to go back inside as the boys straightened themselves out. We soon joined the rest of the family and had a fun, quiet evening full of laughter, happiness and peace. When it was time to go, right as the sun was beginning to rise, I was about to bid everyone goodnight when Alice pulled me by the arm.

Alice and I had, surprisingly enough, gotten along splendidly; our polar opposite personalities made it easy to talk and debate about things.

"Come here for a minute."

I followed her up the stairs, promising Edward that I wouldn't take long. We walked down a long hallway, up another set of staircases and into a large room that was a light brown. I was surprised by how much I liked the room; for Alice's specific area, I would've thought there would have been bubblegum pink on the walls with purple everywhere. Instead, there were chocolate brown accents that made the room seem calm and tan furniture… it was perfect looking.

"Wow."

She smiled, all bubbly. "You like it?"

I nodded. "It's nice."

"Thanks. Now, I have something for you."

"Alice… I'm not really into presents…"

"Oh, shut up! You'll like this one!"

She pulled a large book out from her beside table, placing it on the bed and gesturing for me to sit on it.

"What is it?"

"It's yours."

I raised an eyebrow. On the front, there was a picture of me and nothing else. I looked on the inside to see Edward's handwriting on little post-it notes, for page after page after page. On the very first couple of pages, there were pieces of spiral notebook pages glued in with gibberish written all over them:

_Thinks about her more times in a day then he can count._

_ Knows her favorite color._

_ Is in love with her._

"What is this?"

She shrugged. "It's a documentation of your and Edward's relationship, from start to present."

I stared at her, wide eyed, and looked back inside. Sure enough, there were little footnotes with information from her on literally every page of the very long book; this would've taken _years_ for a human to finish.

"It's something else, of course…"

I looked up at her, anxious for what _else _could possibly be in it.

"It's also something for you to remember just how much you've changed over the last couple of weeks."

"What?"

She grinned. "When we first met, you were weak, but you used your sarcastic shield to pretend to be strong. You don't have to pretend anymore, though. Edward healed you."

I gaped at her. "H… how the hell do you know all of this?"

"From both Edward's behavior and just looking at you. You look good, Bells."

That was the first nickname anyone had given me. _Ever._

"Thanks, Alice."

She smiled even wider. "I call it, _Another Person Inside_. Because that's who you are, now."

I would've sobbed if I could have. "Thank you, Alice. For everything. It's perfect."

She positively beamed. "I thought you'd like it. Now, come on; Edward's waiting."

I followed her as she bounced back down the stairs with super speed and I knew that this was exactly where I belonged.

"Ready to go?" he asked me, putting his arm around me.

I smiled and nodded. "Bye, everyone."

They all gave me goodbyes and we were on our way, going back to the tree where it all started.

"Why does the sun have to be so fucking bright?"

He sighed. "I love you."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah… ditto."

**Many, many years later**

After all of these years, not a whole lot has changed.

Jacob's an old man now, and Leah got over her opinion that all first loves are doomed to fail and found herself a man that she had kids with. All three of us still bitch on a regular basis.

Sam and Emily got married, and had little puppies that would one day grow up being raised to believe that vampires weren't so bad, after all.

Everyone in the family is well and healthy, and as weird as always. Things are never normal in the Cullen house, and that's just the way we like it.

Despite what Felix said, I got a call from Aro (don't ask me how that sneaky bastard got my number) saying that he and Heidi had gotten remarried and were inviting me to their wedding. I politely declined, of course, saying that I had my own marriage to get on with.

And, of course, Edward and I got married. Like I said; not much has changed. We never did have sex before we got married… and then we fucked like no one has ever fucked before on our wedding night. Since then, we've become very physically active, but our mental relationship was stronger than ever.

We never did move from Forks, because we loved it so much and didn't want to leave our home. We stayed there for…well; so far, we're planning on living here for _forever_.

There aren't words to describe how grateful I am that Edward Cullen was brought into my life; just like Alice said, he healed me and turned my life around. Falling in love changed everything for me and I'll never take that for granted. It may not have been the exact "happily ever after" some people were looking for, but it was pretty fucking close.

**THE END.**

**Final AN: Where to begin? Okay, to start off, I would like to thank everyone who's taken the time to review this story; it means the world to me to know that people actually **_**liked **_**what I was writing. Writing this story was a wonderful experience for me and it's something that I'll never forget. So, THANK YOU! **

**Also, thanks to everyone that's read this story, even if they didn't review, for whatever reason. For the last chapter: come on, don't be shy! Did you like the end? **

**For the last and final time… you know you want to review. ;)**

**Alright… I guess it's time to go, before it starts getting too mushy. I fucking love you guys! Take care, all of you!**

**Love,**

**Evangeline (CreativelySpecial)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey, guys! I forgot to mention this in my dramatic final note, and I didn't want to go back and edit it, and 23 is an awesome number… well, there's lots of reasons why I'm just posting this as another chapter.**

**ANYWAY, at some point, I think I'll put up another story with outtakes from this story that I didn't think belonged or I just didn't put in. Should I do it? Review or PM me, telling me if you want me to. :)**

**Thanks so much!**

**Love,**

**Evangeline **


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